


Special Events

by 1358456



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-03-17 20:49:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 59,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13667028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1358456/pseuds/1358456
Summary: An Ao3 re-upload of my stories from FF.net, merging two stories into one.Story based on Pokemon Special, the manga. This is a collection of one-shots, each with a primary pairing in focus, merged from two separate collections from the other site. Namely, Special Events (September 2010 – July 2013), and Distinct Events (February 2014 – April 2017). Therefore many things may seem outdated in the first portion of the story.Each one-shot focuses on a single Dex Holder pairing as they mingle and have fun, and sometimes suffer horrible fates.





	1. Surprise Gift - GC

**Author's Note:**

> Some one-shots may be related to others (as in, sequels/prequels, alternates, etc), while some are completely unrelated.
> 
> I will list the primary pairing of each chapter for convenience.
> 
> This chapter was first uploaded on September 28, 2010

**Primary: Gold & Crystal.**

Surprise Gift:

Gold, along with every other non-Crystal Dex Holder, waited in a giant room of the Berlitz Mansion, waiting for Crystal to arrive. Platinum had invited everyone for a birthday party; Crystal’s birthday party. Of course, this was going to be a surprise, so she had invited everyone except Crystal, and two days ago, she told her senior that she needed her help as soon as possible on some research for Professor Rowan. Everyone had already gathered with their gifts and all that was left was the birthday girl to get things started.

“So, what did you get her?” Silver asked Gold as he waited for Crystal to arrive. To his surprise, the boy with the goggles simply shrugged. “I… see. Well, I can tell you that she won’t be happy.”

“It’s Super Serious Gal. She won’t be happy with _everything_ I do,” Gold replied. “Besides, I… made a deal with someone,” he said with a sigh.

Silver raised an eyebrow. “A deal with someone to… not get Crys a present? I just hope that you have a plan to deal with the coming fire.”

“We’ll see,” Gold replied. “Anyways, what did you get-”

“INCOMING!” Pearl hollered.

Surprised, most everyone took cover behind couches and other hiding places. Green remained in his seat, reading the news. The lights were turned off, but he remained in his seat anyways.

Soon, sounds of footsteps could be heard, along with the high-pitched voice of Platinum. Gold, hiding behind two couches, peeked through them. Before long, the door opened and Platinum stepped inside. She made a slight gesture with her hands, telling whoever was watching to wait for 5 seconds. Gold turned to everyone and mouthed the words “five seconds” and received nods.

5…

Crystal soon stepped in and instantly turned the lights on. Before Gold took cover again, he noticed the slight frown on her face, presumably from having to go to Sinnoh on such short notice during her birthday.

4…

Pearl, hasty as always, almost jumped the gun, having counted 5 seconds too fast. Diamond, seeing his friend rise, also tried as well (he thought that he counted too slow). Before they did anything, Ruby and Sapphire tackled them and held them down, all happening behind the couch.

3…

Crystal turned to see why there was a soft ‘thump’ coming from the couch.

2…

Still sitting, Green hit the side of the couch. Crystal looked at him, wondering why he did that.

1…

“Thought something was moving,” he said to Crystal’s questioning look.

0.

“And…” he hit the couch twice.

Blue, from behind the couch, signaled everyone to rise. Every Dex Holder, except for Diamond and Pearl (who were mauled) jumped up and shouted surprise. Sapphire, seeing her two juniors still dazed on the floor, grabbed them both by their shirts and yanked them up so that they could see Crystal. They managed a weak surprise. The birthday girl turned to look at Platinum.

“Happy birthday, senior Crystal,” said the heiress with a bright smile.

“How did you know it was my birthday today?” Crystal asked, also smiling brightly. “I don’t remember telling you when my birthday was.”

“It was senior Go-” Platinum saw Gold in the corner of her eye. He was making cutting gestures with his hand. She understood and cleared her throat. “Excuse me. It was senior Green who informed me of this day.”

“Oh. I see,” the birthday girl replied, with a hint of disappointment in her voice. “Honestly, I never expected this,” she said happily. She turned to look at the other Dex Holders. She could see Diamond and Pearl still in Sapphire’s grip and related this to the ‘thump’ she heard before. “I assume they tried to jump too early,” she said with a laugh.

Sapphire glared at the Sinnoh duo, who nodded apologetically. Crystal laughed some more. Blue led everyone to the large table where everything was set up for a feast.

“So,” Green said to Gold, while making sure that Crystal was out of hearing range. “You were the one who planned this.”

“Yeah, I guess,” the goggled boy replied with a sheepish grin. He looked over at Crystal, who was busy talking with Blue and Yellow. “As long as Super Serious Gal over there doesn’t know yet, I’m good.”

The feast began soon after. It was essentially all-you-can-eat buffet, as servants of the Berlitz Mansion kept pouring in with high quality dishes. The food was placed on a large table and the Dex Holders could eat what they wanted.

Gold ate about 5 plates worth by the time Crystal finished one. Ruby and Sapphire seemed to be in another bet, as they kept pouring food into their mouths and occasionally glaring at one another. Once everyone finished eating, Platinum took note of how much each Dex Holder ate for future feasts.

A few minutes later, it became time for the birthday gifts. First up was Diamond, and he presented Crystal a big cake. As always, Crystal noted. Diamond’s birthday gift to everyone was always a birthday cake. Not that she minded, because it tasted better than the stuff bakeries sell.

‘ _Good. He got my age right,_ ’ Crystal thought, counting the candles on the cake.

It was decided that the birthday song and the blowing of the candles will occur after all the gifts were given. Much to Gold’s surprise, the Pokémon carrying the present boxes were all his. He naturally glared at Silver, but he shrugged and glanced at Blue.

Emerald picked up his gift box and gave it to Crystal. The box contained the various Pokéballs of Hoenn, 30 of each type. Crystal looked into the box of minimized Pokéballs and spotted a few Safari Balls as well.

“Did you… _smuggle_ these?” she asked, picking up a Safari Ball.

“Uh… yeah,” Emerald replied with a grin.

Crystal shook her head. “Thanks Emerald,” she said nonetheless.

Next up was Pearl, who presented her the Pokéballs of Sinnoh, 20 of each type, and a couple of passes that enable the owners to see the Tower Tycoon battle a challenger.

Next, Platinum gave her a new laptop, much to her surprise. It was the most expensive birthday gift she had ever gotten.

Ruby gave her a new coat (which he didn’t make) for usage in Sinnoh, and during the winter in Johto.

Sapphire gave her a box full of rare berries from all over Hoenn (Durin, Liechi, etc). Crystal didn’t know how she would use such berries, but gave her thanks anyways.

Blue gave her a new winter hat, a pair of boots, and two pairs of gloves. Crystal looked confused as to why people were giving her winter clothes, when summer was approaching.

Green’s birthday ‘gift’ answered the question. His gift was a Viridian Gym Badge, and a secret spoiler. He signaled her to follow for a second, and leading her away from the group (mostly from Blue), gave her the second part of his gift.

“Pesky girl and Platinum over there have planned an event for your birthday. We’ll all be going to Snowpoint City, which is always covered with snow and has frequent blizzards,” he whispered, in case anyone tried to eavesdrop. He could still see everyone else, but just in case. Sapphire could still hear him, though.

Crystal understood now. She went to Snowpoint City once before for research purposes, and it was _really_ cold.

“Now, if anyone asks, I just told you that you’ll have a couple of reports to work on next week. Remember, I did not tell you that we’re going to Snowpoint City. So _be_ surprised.”

Next, Yellow gave her a fishing rod and a sketchbook. There really wasn’t anything that she could give, so that was as best as she could get.

Crystal frowned when she noticed that three people have yet to give her a gift, and there were two boxes left. There was no way that Silver would’ve forgotten to get her something, which meant either Red or Gold forgot. She sincerely hoped that it was Red who forgot…

But much to her surprise and horror, it was Red who gave her the next gift. Upon taking Blue’s recommendation, he bought her a novel, whose details he had absolutely no clue about. Despite becoming more and more disappointed, Crystal managed to thank her senior for the novel she had always wanted to read.

Next up was Silver. He gave her a video camera that could record videos and take pictures simultaneously. Blue had forced him to write a note that was to be given with the video camera.

“For all your happy and special occasions,” Crystal read from the note.

‘ _Whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean,_ ’ Silver thought to himself. He wasn’t the one to come up with that note, and he had just been told to write it.

Crystal also seemed a bit confused at the note, and put it away for future thought. She turned to Gold’s direction with obvious disappointment in her expression. Gold was looking down, and for once, he wasn’t holding on to that damned billiard cue.

“Is… that everyone?” Crystal asked, unable to prevent her voice from trembling.

Gold suddenly looked up with a grin. “Of course not! You forgot me!” He slowly walked towards her, and passed Emerald while doing so. “Get ready,” he whispered to him.

Nodding, the younger boy took the camera that Crystal had just received and prepared to record everything. Blue took out a camera from her bag and tossed it to Silver. He caught it, and after pondering what it would be for, soon understood everything.

Gold stood beside Crystal, facing the rest of the Dex Holders. After taking a few deep breaths, he began to address the Dex Holders as a method of partially stalling time.

“My fellow Dex Holders!” he started, rather full of confidence. “I didn’t give Super Serious Gal here a gift yet, but rest assured, I do have a gift! Here, hold this for a sec,” he said to Crystal, giving her his hat. He ran a hand through his hair. “And the gift is ri-”

Without warning, he quickly spun around to face Crystal, put his hands on the back of her neck and head, and pulled her close for a kiss. The girl’s face simply turned pink and her eyes opened wide in shock before involuntarily closing. Her grip loosened and she dropped Gold’s hat.

Silver and Emerald were taking pictures of this event from all sorts of angles while every other Dex Holder looked in awe and surprise.

Crystal felt that she was dreaming… she had been waiting for this moment for so long… All those miserable hours she spent thinking that he would never like her, thinking that he definitely preferred what’s-her-name that lives in New Bark Town instead of her… all those hours… seemed to just disappear from her memory.

After what felt like the happiest 10 seconds of her life, the kiss ended as Gold pulled back from her. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the other Dex Holders. Most everyone were clapping and cheering, and Gold was waving to them, smiling and laughing. A thought struck Crystal.

‘ _Did… did he do that for show?_ ’ Crystal felt her cheeks heat up as she felt extreme embarrassment and humiliation. ‘ _He kissed me just for show and I fell for it… Now what’s he going to think of me?_ ’

The overwhelming sense of disappointment was too much for her to handle, and as a couple of female Dex Holders noticed and asked her what was wrong, she fainted and collapsed on the floor.

When she woke up, she found herself lying on a couch in a small room, with an ice pack on her forehead. And much to her surprise, she could see Gold (and only Gold) sitting on the floor beside her.

“Sheesh, Super Serious Gal, why’d you faint? Gave us quite a fright there, you know.”

“Um… sorry?”

“Anyways, you okay now?”

“Yeah, I… I’m fine,” Crystal said as she slowly sat up. Gold remained sitting and looked at her. “What?”

“You don’t look okay at all,” Gold said. “Come on. What’s the matter?”

“It’s just…” Crystal hesitated. “Why’d you do that?”

“Huh? Oh, the kiss? I was just told that it’s what you do to people special to you.”

“I’m sure I’m not the only one who you kissed, right? You’re always flirting with girls and all.”

“Oh come on. When did I ever flirt?”

Crystal crossed her arms. “Do you really want me to answer that question?”

Gold faked a cough. “… Never mind. Still, none of those were serious.”

“So what? You’re saying that I’m the first one you’ve ever kissed?” Crystal asked in disbelief.

“Is it really that hard to believe?” Gold asked with a smile. He looked at her for a few seconds before he sighed. “Fine. Well, if you don’t like the gift, I guess I’ll have to get you another one. Too bad you can’t return it for refund or anything.”

Crystal smiled as she got off the couch and crouched beside him. “Oh, I can return the gift,” she said, before kissing him. “But I’ll consider your gift as being given,” she said once the kiss ended.

“And you kissed me why?” Gold asked with a grin.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Crystal said. “Because I love you.”

“Good. Because I love you too. Well then, looks like we know who you’ll be taking to the Battle Tower with those tickets Pearl gave you.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Who else are you going to take? I’m assuming the challenger would be Emerald, and we’ll be going there to watch him. No?”

Crystal smiled. “Yes, you’re right. I pick you.”

…

A few minutes later…

…

All the Dex Holders sat around a table as the Berlitz Mansion servants delivered slices of cake that Diamond made. Gold sat beside Crystal, holding her hand. She looked very happy, so maybe the stunt he pulled off wasn’t that bad after all.

“Thanks everyone, for this surprise party,” Crystal said. “This was the greatest birthday I’ve ever had.”

During the remainder of the party, Crystal moved closer to Gold, leaning on his arm. He blushed and put an arm around her in response. A few Dex Holders laughed. Gold suddenly looked at the end of the table where Emerald was sitting. He was recording the whole thing on the video camera… He used his arm extender to move the camera up close and took a picture as well.

“Emerald!” Gold and Crystal yelled at the same time.

“Just so you know,” Emerald said, laughing. “I recorded the whole ‘gift returning’ thing too. You two never suspected the open windows…”

Gold and Crystal jumped to their feet, but seeing how everyone else were laughing, had no choice but to laugh it off. They looked at each other, glanced at the camera, and smiling, kissed again.


	2. Nightmare - DPt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was first uploaded on October 7, 2010

**Primary: Diamond & Platinum.**

Nightmare:

_Diamond sat in a chair in the waiting room of the Berlitz Mansion, waiting. It was 5 pm, the time he promised to take Platinum out for a date. The plan was simple: he would first take her to south of Sandgem Town, towards the ocean specifically. They would take a walk along the cliff, looking into the ocean as the sun would start to set. The sunlight would glisten in a golden hue off the incoming waves, which was guaranteed to be beautiful. Then he would take her somewhere to eat dinner, and then he’d take her to Lake Verity. This time, the reflected moonlight would sparkle on the calm lake water, and it would hopefully create a different mood. The weather forecast predicted no clouds, so all the stars would be perfectly visible. From his experience, Diamond had learned that Platinum liked such things._

_He was sure that ever since he started to date her about… two years ago. She had wondered when he would do something classic and romantic as taking her to watch the sunset on a cliff. Diamond would have taken her out for that a lot sooner, if he had thought about it. In fact, he wouldn’t have thought about it if his seniors didn’t suggest the idea; a secret, never to be told to Platinum._

___He took a deep breath. The day wasn’t going to be hard. Although he took the girl out countless times, he was nervous as always._ _ _

_“Ah, Diamond, I am sorry to keep you waiting,” came Platinum’s cheerful voice from behind. Diamond turned to face her. She had her old/classic casual clothes, better known as her adventure attire. Nothing too fancy… perfect for Diamond. “I am ready to go.”_

_He held out his hand, and she took it without the slightest hesitation. She wrapped an arm around his and carrying her bag in the other, followed him out of her mansion, thus starting the date. This time, however, things were a bit more complicated… Due to some tension that Diamond didn’t know about, and the fact that the scheduled time of return was near 11 pm, Platinum’s parents have agreed to let her go with him, under one condition: two of the most highly trained guards from the mansion had to follow._

_These guards, Platinum explained, were hired/recruited because of the harsh experiences the entire family went through when her father was ambushed and ransom had to be paid to release her from being ‘captive’ from Team Galactic. Although luckily Diamond and Pearl were there to protect Platinum, her father reasoned that they couldn’t be there all the time and hired specially trained bodyguards._

_With these guards, Platinum would be safe from whatever danger her father believed was out there, but they sure made the mood of the date awkward. In silence, Diamond and Platinum headed south, both occasionally glancing back at the two guards silently following. Diamond noticed Platinum’s discomfort and a frown marring her expression. 10 minutes later, as if an idea suddenly popped in her mind, a smile formed on her lips. She let go of Diamond’s arm, which she had been hugging, and pretended to shiver. She turned to her guards, while rubbing her arms with her hands._

_“Would one of you go get my coat? It is in my room on the third floor, I believe.”_

_The two guards glanced at each other before one nodded. Although it was posed as a question, the heiress had just given them an order. The one who nodded turned around and ran back towards the mansion. Now with one guard, Platinum hugged Diamond’s arm again and continued to walk. About a minute later, she turned to the remaining guard._

_"Could you scout ahead and see if there is a suitable restaurant where Diamond and I will be able to eat dinner?”_

_The guard hesitated, unwilling to leave her unprotected. He had been given direct orders to protect and watch over Platinum, but he had now just received an order from her to go find a restaurant. For a brief moment, the guard thought of what he should do. Since he had been assigned to watch over Platinum, he figured that a part of the duty was to make her feel comfortable, and thereby follow her orders as long as it didn’t directly conflict with his outstanding order. Soon the guard left to find a suitable restaurant, like he was ordered to._

_As soon as the guard was out of his sight, Diamond felt Platinum pull his arm and run. He understood what she was trying to do and followed her. About 5 minutes later, he caught up with her, who had stopped and waited for him. She was smiling and started to laugh as he came closer. She had a really beautiful smile and she was very cute when she laughed. When he was close enough, Platinum reached forward and kissed him on the cheek._

_"We are finally alone, Diamond,” she said, returning to her position on his left and latching onto his arm again. Since he was out of breath from the running, he could only nod in agreement._

_After a minute of walking, Diamond looked at Platinum. She looked very happy. Seeing her happy made him happy. With his free right hand, he pointed ahead._

_“I think we’ll be able to get a good view of the sunset over there.”_

_“Over there?” Platinum asked, pointing to a small hill near the cliff with her left hand. “That would be very n- Ah!” she trailed off, ending with a sudden pained yelp._

_Surprised, Diamond looked at her. She also seemed very surprised as she let go of his arm and put her right hand onto her left side. Diamond was very shocked when he saw blood on her fingertips as she pulled her hand back. She slowly turned around and looked behind. He turned as well when he heard her gasp._

_There was someone standing roughly 20 meters behind them, with a silenced gun in his hand… before either Diamond or Platinum could react, the weapon was fired. The first shot had missed slightly, and it had grazed Platinum’s left side. But this shot had hit her just below the rib cage._

_Everything seemed to go slow for Diamond. Everything started to slow down the moment the second shot was fired. But the shock and fear had left him immobilized, and he found himself unable to do anything but watch Platinum twitch a bit as the bullet tore its way into her body._

_Platinum dropped her bag, which dropped towards the ground along with large drops of blood. Her hands reached up towards her bleeding wound. Before the bag even hit the ground, the weapon was fired again. This time, the shot hit her right shoulder, and she staggered backwards. Diamond snapped out of his trance and caught Platinum in his arms as she fell._

_While gasping for air, she looked into his eyes. He held her bloody hand but didn’t know what else to do. Just as Platinum was about to say something, a **fourth** shot was fired, and this one hit her right beside her heart. She winced and tried to scream as blood spurted from the bullet wound. But the only thing that came from her mouth was a mist of blood, not a scream or any sound at all. She had an expression of indescribable pain, which soon disappeared as her arms lifelessly fell to her side…_

… 

Diamond snapped awake and opened his eyes. He had that terrible nightmare again. He had the same nightmare countless of times. Just when he convinced himself that it was nothing more than a dream, he had it again. He had the nightmare so much that he was certain that he had memorized everything about it, even to the most trivial details. Such as how many strands of hair was on her face when she smiled at him after evading the guards, how many times faster his heart beat when she hugged his arm, exactly how many steps he had taken before everything started to go wrong.

Unfortunately for Diamond, the more horrible part of the nightmare kept on replaying in his mind over and over. He had memorized everything… no matter how hard he tried to forget about them, the memories of the nightmare came back. He could even draw what happened with perfect accuracy…

Diamond forced his mind away from the memory of the awful scene. He had been covered in blood… not his blood, or some random person’s, but Platinum’s… blood of his girlfriend… the girl he loved ever since he first saw her. And that was a degree worse than being drenched in his own blood. But it was just a nightmare… just a nightmare; nothing more. This nightmare-phenomenon would eventually end…

He wanted to visit Platinum. After having these nightmares, he felt it important to see her again, to ensure that nothing had happened. Just a nightmare, so nothing would have happened, right?

But no matter how much he wanted to visit her, he knew that he couldn’t. He knew that with as much certainty as his answer to his question. He couldn’t visit her right now because he hadn’t talked to Platinum in a long time, ever since… ever since the hired gun had tried to kill her… and succeeded…

Diamond remembered the answer to his question. Something did happen. There was a reason why he kept having these nightmares over and over… because that was no nightmare. It was an actual event that happened two years ago… the day when Platinum Berlitz was killed; murdered, for some political/economical/whatever reason that he did not know about.

He took a deep breath and looked around, trying to remember where he was. He was sitting in a shade created by a large tree, leaning against an upright rock.

‘ _No, not a rock,_ ’ he corrected himself.

He stood up and looked at the ‘rock’ he was leaning on. It was a tombstone, actually… belonging to Platinum Berlitz. She was buried in the large open field/back garden of her mansion, along with some of her ancestors. Only a few people were allowed into the burial grounds, and as Platinum’s ‘ex’-boyfriend, Diamond was one of the few. Looking at his ‘ex’-girlfriend’s grave, he couldn’t help but relive her dying moments once more…

… 

_The moment Platinum fell motionless, her two guards had returned. The one who was sent to find a restaurant charged at the hired gun while the other ran towards his mistress to check on her condition. The hired gun was reloading when the guard struck, and before long, he was captured. Diamond snapped out of his trance once more when the other guard shook him._

_The guard had used Platinum’s coat as a makeshift bandage, to try to slow the bleeding. Once the coat had been wrapped around her chest and the hired gun was well tied up, Diamond carefully lifted his girlfriend onto his back and ran as fast as he could towards the nearest hospital. One of the guards led the way and the other returned to the mansion with his prisoner._

_As Diamond ran, Platinum’s arms dangled lifelessly in front of him. Her head rested against his, and dark blood was trickling from her mouth. The blood started to drip onto his vest. He ran even faster. At this rate, Platinum would certainly die from blood loss, assuming she wasn’t killed yet. He couldn’t help but feel warmth in his back as yet more blood spilled from the wound in his girlfriend’s stomach._

_Two hours after being shot, Platinum’s injuries have been fully treated and tightly bandaged. The doctors have removed the bullets that were still lodged in the girl’s body and gave her the best treatment money could buy. It was a miracle that Platinum had survived the shots and made it to the hospital. But she had lost too much blood and was in shock. Her internal organs have taken too much damage as well… she was going to die._

_…_

_11 pm…_

_…_

_It had been 4 hours since the treatment was completed. Diamond watched sorrowfully as Platinum slept painfully. She needed a respirator to breathe and other various life support systems. Diamond looked at her heart monitor. Her heartbeats were weak and slow._

_The Berlitz family had scattered to contact various doctors and nurses to see if anything could be done to try to save the girl, leaving Diamond all alone with her. He didn’t know who would try to kill her. What did she ever do?_

_All he knew was that a complete moron had been chosen for the murder. The idiot chose to try to kill Platinum in a **wide open area, too close to the target** and was **captured** before he could escape. It would only be a matter of time before he found out why the moron had been sent to kill his girlfriend… but he didn’t want to know. He knew that whatever the reason was, it wouldn’t justify killing her, and it would certainly make him sick._

_Suddenly, there was a spike in the heart monitor. Hope rising, Diamond looked. Platinum’s heart had started to beat faster, but it was still horribly weak. He looked over at the respirator. Platinum was breathing faster, but were taking shallow breaths. So shallow that it hardly counted as a breath. It was more of a gasp… Much to his surprise, her eyes slowly opened. Her head turned a bit and she looked at him. Diamond’s heart sank as he realized that her death was imminent._

_"Lady…” he started, tears welling in his eyes._

_He noticed something. Platinum’s left hand was moving. At first, he thought she was twitching, but he saw that there was a pattern in the movement._

_A writing… she was writing something on the bed. Diamond quickly scanned the room and retrieved a sheet of paper and a pen. He showed them to her, asking if she wanted to write something. He could see a very faint shaking of her head. She had no energy to lift up a pen… she could barely move… Even if she could lift the pen, she wouldn’t be able to exert enough force to actually write something._

_Diamond nodded and he prepared to write. Platinum managed to move her left hand’s index finger slightly on her bed to write a letter. Diamond saw the movement and wrote the letter. He asked for clarification as he went along, to ensure that he received her last message._

_"Two B’s?” he asked. He detected a faint nod. He let her continue writing on the bed._

_After a couple of minutes, the message was complete. Diamond frowned as he read it; he didn’t understand… “TYFEDIRHFSTWYBBWPWFIWLTTYTILY” Perhaps he had to rearrange the letters? But then… what was the point of that? Perhaps it was a password to something? No, no…_

_Afraid that that he wrote the message wrong, he hesitantly showed what he wrote to Platinum. But to his surprise, she managed a faint nod. She wrote something again… the last three letters of the incomprehensible message. Diamond wrote them. Was this an acronym? If so, then this was one long message. It was probably very important, so he vowed to figure it out._

_He looked into Platinum’s barely open eyes. As tears fell from his eyes, her lips formed a very faint and weak smile. Diamond put the pen and paper away and grabbed her left hand… it was very cold. Her eyes slowly closed and tears fell from them as well. Her heartbeats were becoming **much** weaker…_

_“No… no, you can’t die…” Diamond started._

_He saw Platinum struggling as she managed to open her eyes again… just barely. She desperately tried to reach her respirator’s mask. Diamond was still holding on to her hand, and noticing her trying to move, let go of it. He could see that she was looking at her respirator’s mask._

_“Do you… want to remove it?” he asked. He saw a faint nod. “But… you’ll die!”_

_She looked at him sadly. Having spent so long with her, he could somewhat read her thoughts just by looking into her eyes. He could see that she knew her death was unavoidable._

_He did as she wished. He took the respirator mask off. Platinum’s heartbeats became even weaker. But she smiled faintly and looked at him longingly. He noticed that she was looking back and forth between his eyes and his mouth, and soon knew what she wanted._

_“One last kiss…”_

_Diamond could see Platinum’s faint nod. He was on the verge of crying, and he could see that she was too. Again, he did as she wanted. He gently pulled her closer, and after brushing off a few tears from her cheeks, kissed her, one last time. He had his eyes open for a few seconds, and during that time, he could see her looking into his eyes before her eyes closed. The message she was trying to say was clear this time._

_"Thank you… and good bye, Diamond…”_

_Diamond closed his eyes as more tears fell. He didn’t want this moment to end… he wanted her to live, and be happy… But before the kiss ended, Platinum’s heart monitor flat lined. Diamond pulled back and looked at the heart monitor. Surprised, he looked at Platinum. Her eyes were closed and she was perfectly motionless…_

_“Lady, no! You can’t die! I love you too much!” Diamond yelled desperately, bursting into tears._

_But it was too late. Just like that, she was gone… She had woken up and passed away so quickly, as if she had resisted the inevitable death and woken up just so she could deliver her last message._

… 

Diamond sighed as he wiped away the forming tears. He looked up at the sky and sighed again. Words couldn’t describe how much he missed Platinum. Her sweet voice, beautiful smile, caring nature… He felt ashamed that he couldn’t save her. He wished that he had taken the bullets instead. Definitely not mentally, but physically, Platinum was frail… she was much, much weaker than him. Therefore, he had a much greater chance of surviving the shots.

Diamond took out a sheet of paper… it still had Platinum’s last message. Although he didn’t understand what it meant for nearly a year since her death, now, he understood perfectly. A reference to an event… it pleased him to know that it meant as much to her as it did to him. He smiled faintly and neatly folded the paper and put it back in his pocket.

He sat back down and leaned against the tombstone. He spent several hours a day there… it was the closest he could get to the girl he loved so much… and he was sure that she appreciated his visits.

Diamond closed his eyes as he recalled what the message meant. It was the first letter of every word that she said to him on the fateful day in his home party 4 years ago, after returning from Mt. Coronet… Silently, he thanked her again for the message and took a deep breath, dreaming of her, dreaming of the way she hugged his arm, and how good it made him feel… and thinking of each wonderful moment he had with her…

… 

_In Twinleaf Town, after Diamond had returned from Mt. Coronet, his mother had prepared a party of his return with various berry delicacies. Cakes, drinks, and other fancy food were prepared, and enough to feed roughly 30 people. The invited guests were easy to determine. The Sinnoh Gym Leaders, Cynthia, Professor Rowan, Pearl and his father, a few other guests, and of course, Platinum (and her parents)._

_Platinum sat next to Diamond and she seemed rather nervous. There seemed to be something bothering her, and it bothered him too. She seemed to be avoiding eye-contact with him…_

_As the party ended many hours later, Diamond followed Platinum as she left. He stood in the doorway and watched her walk away, perhaps from his life forever. But she suddenly stopped after just three steps and she slowly turned around. She kept her head down and seemed really nervous. He asked her what was wrong, and she slowly looked at him. What she said next would stick in his mind forever, replaying over and over…_

_“Thank you for everything Diamond… I really had fun spending time with you. But before we part ways forever, I… would like to tell you that… I… like you… … I **love** you…”_


	3. Ski Trip - GC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place shortly after Surprise Gift. It’s the ‘event in Snowpoint’ that was mentioned.
> 
> This chapter was first uploaded on November 23, 2010

**Primary: Gold & Crystal.**

Ski Trip:

Route 217, Sinnoh…

Crystal looked through the window of the bus as she headed towards Snowpoint City. There was a lot of snow on the ground, thus the bus was going slow for safety. According to Green, for her birthday party, Platinum and Blue had planned an event in Snowpoint. Platinum had rented a bus to be used for the trip and made arrangements for a lodge and whatnot.

Apparently every Dex Holder was going on a ski trip. Crystal was a little worried because… she didn’t know how to ski. She didn’t like the cold either. The boots, hat, gloves, and the winter coat she received as birthday presents and the winter pants she borrowed from Blue (she had extras) kept her nice and warm though. She looked at Platinum, who sat beside her. Crystal couldn’t believe how her junior could wear such a light coat and a _skirt_ for skiing… and she even kept her coat _off_. In fact, she seemed a little hot… She had some ridiculously high tolerance for cold…

Crystal looked over at Blue and Yellow, who sat in the seats in front. Her seniors were also dressed warmly and seemed to be somewhat comfortable. She looked behind, where Ruby and Sapphire sat. The two Hoenn Dex Holders wore really thick winter clothes, but still trembled from the cold. For once, they weren’t bickering.

On the other side of the bus, Diamond and Pearl were silently practicing their comedy acts, Silver was asleep, and Gold was busy eating something while slowly reaching for the windows. Emerald, who sat beside him, was curled up into a ball, shivering. Red was dozing off as Green was reading a book. Those two didn’t seem to mind the cold that much either.

‘ _I wonder how many of the Dex Holders know how to ski?_ ’ Crystal thought, as she looked out through the windows once again.

“Um… excuse me, senior Crystal,” Platinum suddenly started.

“Yeah?”

“Would you mind if I open the windows? It is quite hot.”

Sapphire suddenly kicked the seat from behind. “Y – You w – w – want to do _what_?”

“Sorry, Platinum. It may be hot for you, but it’s quite cold for the rest of us,” Crystal said, shuddering at the thought of opening the windows.

But to her horror, she heard the sound of a window opening. She looked around and saw which window was open. Apparently Gold had decided to open the windows for the sake of torturing Emerald, who grumbled as he tried to shield himself from the harsh wind.

“Shut the window! You’re letting all the heat out!” Crystal yelled.

“R – R – Relax, Super S – Serious Gal,” Gold stuttered. “I – Isn’t it n – n – nice to breathe some f – fresh air?” Despite shivering violently, he pretended to be perfectly fine. “I – Isn’t that right, E – Emerald?”

“I – I – I’ll get you back s – someday…” Emerald stuttered out from his wind-shield. “I’ll n – never come back to northern S – Sinnoh…”

A few hours later, the bus arrived in front of the lodge. It was three stories high, and seemed quite big overall. It must’ve cost a lot to rent such a lodge for… however long they were staying.

Crystal groaned silently. There was no way she would be able to repay Platinum for this birthday event. All she could do was take better care of her.

…

Next day, 5 am…

…

Crystal groaned as she woke up. She was very tired and very cold as well. It was a hellacious night, and due to… a prank by _someone_ , she only slept for two hours. That prank had almost given her a heart attack… She sighed and after checking the cut and bruise on her cheek with a mirror, made her way to the bathroom to take a shower.

Half an hour later, she stepped out of the lodge where some of the Dex Holders were waiting. It was still dawn, and it was _very_ cold. And Platinum wanted everyone to meet her _outside_ so they can _walk_ to the ski resort.

Crystal let out another sigh; she could see her breath slowly rising towards the sky. She zipped up her coat and walked towards the small group of Dex Holders waiting, namely Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Silver, Pearl, and Platinum.

Platinum seemed quite tired. Crystal understood; the heiress had to share a room with Sapphire, and when extreme tolerance to cold met extreme _intolerance_ to cold, there were bound to be problems. Crystal assumed that Platinum kept the heater on at maximum power to keep her senior warm.

“Good morning, senior Crystal. Did you sleep well?” Platinum asked after a polite bow.

Crystal smiled and nodded. “Yes, I… had a good night’s rest. So… how far away is the ski resort?”

Platinum covered her mouth as she let out a yawn. “… Pardon me. The ski resort is roughly a half an hour walk from here. And we will leave once all the other-”

“I can’t wait any more!” Pearl hollered.

With several snowballs, he barged into the lodge. Crystal walked towards the group of Dex Holders and waited. Soon, she heard some loud yelling and furniture being tossed around from inside the lodge and Pearl came back out.

“Well, that worked great,” he said with a smile.

Another half an hour later, the remaining Dex Holders came out, and the group headed towards the ski resort. At the ski resort, after renting all the necessary stuff, Crystal waited at the base of the hill, hesitant to get to the top. The ski course was quite… big. While she stared blankly at the course, Gold came up to a halt in front of her, after having snowboarded down from the top of the hill already; of course, coming to an abrupt halt right in front of her sprayed slush all over her.

“Hey, Super Serious Gal, what’re you doing?” he asked with a smirk. “You’ve been standing here for quite some time, you know. I think it’s been 3 hours.”

Crystal grumbled as she tried to get the snow and slush out of her eyes. ‘ _3 hours? It’s been that long_ _already_ _?_ ’ “Gold…” she started in a lecturing tone, brushing the snow and slush off of her clothes now.

“Just like last night, huh?”

“You almost gave me a heart attack yesterday!” she yelled.

“Hey, your heart’s not that weak!” Gold started. “Unless, of course, you’ve been over-eating or something. I warned you, though. I told you not to eat too much and get fat. Remember that?”

Crystal clenched her teeth and tried to smash one of her ski poles over Gold’s head. He blocked it with his billiard cue, which he had been using as a ski pole while snowboarding. Crystal tried to smash the other pole, but he blocked it as well.

“Whoa, you’re too violent, Super Serious Gal. Relax! I was only joking!”

Crystal crossed her arms and turned away. She seemed rather offended, so Gold tried something different.

“Say, let’s go up that hill,” he said, pointing to the _tallest_ ski course in the resort.

“Eh? But…” Crystal suddenly looked around, and after ensuring that no other Dex Holder was in the area, she whispered. “I never skied before…”

Gold started to laugh. “Don’t worry, I’ll hold your hand.”

True to his word, he grabbed her hand and started to drag her towards the ski lift. Crystal started to protest, but suddenly fell mute when he kissed her in the cheek.

“Relax. Nothing bad will happen.”

At the top of the hill, Crystal carefully stood away from the slope.

“Isn’t this slope too steep?” she asked. “I mean… it says it’s the hardest ski course here…”

“Look, Super Serious Gal, even Platinum is riding down this slope,” said Gold, pointing downhill.

Crystal inched her way over and looked. Platinum really was skiing down this slope, very quickly. Well, she _was_ going very fast, until she fell. Crystal shuddered as she watched her junior crash-roll downhill. After a particularly painful looking crash into a tree, she slowed and rolled the rest of the way down. But soon afterwards, she rose back to her feet and after gathering her skis and ski poles, headed towards a different slope. The snow must’ve softened her crashes.

“Excuse us,” came Ruby’s voice from behind.

Crystal turned around and saw both Ruby and Sapphire. They both seemed to have adrenaline running through their veins, as they weren’t shivering. She stepped aside and let her two juniors get ready to ski downhill. Sapphire, despite having a bandage wrapped over her left eye, seemed to have no difficulties skiing.

“Remember. The first one to reach the ski lift down there wins,” she said, her voice full of determination. “Ready, set…”

“Go!” Ruby yelled.

The two Hoenn Dex Holders raced downhill, using their ski poles to accelerate as much as possible. Crystal watched as the two sped down… until they suffered similar fate as Platinum. But in the end, Sapphire crawled towards the ski lift first, thus winning the race.

“Um… Gold, I don’t think we should ski down here…” Crystal said. “Everybody’s crashing near the end…”

“I said relax, Crys,” Gold said. “Here, I’ll go first.”

Gold jumped onto the slope and snowboarded straight downhill. There was a big jump in the middle of the slope, and unlike the other Dex Holders who avoided it, Gold raced straight towards it. And after soaring through the air, he landed on his back and like the others before him, rolled the rest of the way downhill.

Crystal gasped as she tried to find Gold in the cloud of snow. When the cloud of snow cleared, she couldn’t see him anywhere. Starting to get worried, she wanted to get to him, but didn’t want to know what would happen to her if she went down the slope.

Meanwhile, Gold, despite covered in snow, was riding the ski lift back up to the hill. He hoped that he created enough ‘smoke’ so that Crystal couldn’t see him getting back on the ski lift. At the top of the hill, he could see her still looking downhill, so he knew that his plan worked. He carefully hopped towards her.

“Hey, Crys!” he suddenly yelled, as he nudged her from behind, pushing her down the slope.

Crystal shrieked in surprise. “GOLD!”

After laughing for a few seconds, he jumped back onto the slope and raced after her. Crystal was desperately trying to slow down, but to no avail. Gold easily caught up with her and slowed down just enough to stay at the same speed.

“See? You’re doing good,” he yelled.

“HELP!” Crystal screamed back.

Gold grabbed her hand. She seemed to relax a little already. She turned to look at him. He grinned and pointed ahead with his billiard cue. She looked at where he was pointing; the big jump. Gold was leading her straight towards the jump…

“No, no, please don’t!” Crystal shrieked out. She tried to move away but since Gold was holding onto her, she couldn’t go anywhere. “Gold, don’t!”

“Let’s fly!”

“GOLD!”

Without warning, she and Gold soared through the air with no ground below them. Crystal shut her eyes and braced herself…

…

15 minutes later, at the ski lodge…

…

Blue entered the VIP room (appointment made by Platinum), brushing the snow off of her clothes. She wanted to take a short break and… maybe eat something. She didn’t eat anything yet, and was starving as a result.

Inside, there were already quite a few Dex Holders. Apart from Red, Green, Gold, Silver, Crystal, and Pearl, everybody else was there.

Emerald sat in front of the fire while eating a burger, Sapphire was talking to Yellow while sitting on top of Ruby, who was doing push-ups.

“49… 50!” Ruby counted. He tried to push Sapphire off of him when she slammed her fist onto his back.

“You’re not done yet!” she yelled angrily.

“What? The bet was up to 50!” Ruby complained.

“Do 50 more!”

“Why?”

“For last night, you jerk!”

“I told you, that was an accident! And why mention it now? You were fine with it earlier today!”

Sapphire glared at Ruby through one eye. “Accident? Yeah, right. You did that on purpose! And why do you think I made this bet in the first place? So I could make you pay for what you did!”

“Look, I’m sorry! I didn’t know that the branch would hit you like that!”

“Whatever. 50 more push-ups, you!”

Blue shook her head and looked over at a table, where she could see another interesting sight. Diamond, despite having a plate full of food in front of him, was frozen in his place, barely breathing. Sitting next to him was Platinum, who had fallen asleep and was now leaning against his arm, her head resting on his shoulder. Not only that, her hand was resting on top of his.

Blue smiled and sat by the table adjacent, watching the two Sinnoh Dex Holders. She wondered whether Diamond would stay like this until they headed back to the lodge, assuming Platinum didn’t wake up.

Suddenly, the door opened and Pearl stepped in, hollering.

“Dia! I just thought of a great comedy act! Let’s…” he trailed off upon seeing his friend frozen in place.

Diamond looked at Platinum. She stirred slightly but was fast asleep. He could feel her gently squeezing his hand. He smiled and looked back at his food that was getting cold; despite starving, he never felt so happy before.

Seeing his two friends, a thought occurred to Pearl. Blue, as if she read his mind, went over to her bag and pulled out a camera, which she then handed to Pearl. He took several pictures of Diamond and Platinum from various angles, and once he thought he had enough, he moved the camera right in front of Platinum’s face.

“Hey look! Dia’s kissing someone!” Pearl hollered.

As expected, Platinum snapped awake and Pearl took a picture of the reaction. She looked somewhat confused and she looked around a little… hastily. Then, realizing that Pearl was joking, she shook her head and pushed the camera away from her face.

“Your loud voice surprised me, Pearl,” she said with a sigh of relief. “Please do not do that again.”

“Uh… are you okay?” came Diamond’s voice from beside.

Surprised, Platinum looked to the right where Diamond was looking at her. Realizing that she was holding his hand and was leaning on him, she quickly pulled away and straightened herself. She blushed in embarrassment, but luckily, had an urge to yawn, and while complying to do so, covered her mouth and cheeks to hide the blush.

“Y – Yes, I am fine, Diamond. I am slightly tired, is all,” she said shortly after. “I apologize if I was a nuisance to you.”

“No, no. No problem at all.”

“How long was I asleep?” Platinum asked.

“Two hours maybe?”

Platinum looked at the food on the plate in front of Diamond. The food looked quite… congealed now. ‘ _Did he not eat at all during that time?_ ’ “… Thank you for what you did.”

Diamond turned to look at her, and she looked at him. Their faces were quite close to each other… But after a few seconds, they both turned away. Diamond focused on his hardening food while Platinum struggled to hide yet another embarrassed blush.

Within a few more minutes, yet another interesting sight came through the door. Gold, covered in snow, was carrying Crystal in his arms, also covered in snow. He had his snowboard slung across his back and she held her skis and ski poles in her arm.

Seeing everyone staring at the carrying pose, Crystal quickly rammed her elbow into Gold’s chin and got back onto her feet. She winced at the pain coming from her right knee and limped towards a seat.

“What happened?” Blue asked.

Crystal pointed at the ski course through the windows. More specifically, she was pointing at the giant jump in the middle.

“I think I sprained a knee…” she grumbled out. She glared at Gold. “I told you that I shouldn’t go down that slope! Especially not that jump!”

“Hey, but it was fun, wasn’t it?” Gold said with a grin as he un-slung his snowboard.

Crystal grumbled some more and turned away. He was right; it was fun… until the painful crash, anyways. She looked at Platinum who was looking at her with a worried expression.

“Hey Platinum, could we go back to the lodge once everyone returns?”

“Oh, certainly, senior Crystal… I am terribly sorry. I had thought that a ski trip would be fun for everyone…” Platinum said in an apologetic tone. “If I had known that you have never skied…”

‘ _Great… did I hurt her feelings?_ ’ “No, no, it was fun,” Crystal said hastily. “This was just an accident, caused by _someone_. It’s not your fault; don’t be so hard on yourself. I just feel like returning to the lodge so I can rest and not put any strain on my leg.”

Platinum nodded. “Of course. Once the other seniors return, we shall return to the lodge.”

Within an hour, Red, Green, and Silver returned, having conquered all the slopes in the resort. After eating lunch, the Dex Holders prepared to return to the lodge.

Seeing Crystal massaging her knee while looking at everyone else getting their stuff, Blue approached Gold and whispered something into his ear.

“… What? There’s no way I’ll do that!” he yelled, gaining everyone’s attention.

Blue stepped on his foot and whispered something again.

Gold sighed and turned to face Crystal. “… Since it was my fault that you sprained a knee, it is apparently my duty to _carry_ you back to the lodge…”

“Come again? … … I – In _public_?” Crystal stammered.

“Oh well, I tried,” Gold started. Blue kicked him in the ankle. After another sigh, he grabbed Crystal’s hand and lifted her onto her feet before lifting her onto his back.

“H – Hey! What are you…”

“Pretend to be asleep or something,” Gold whispered.

Hiding her embarrassed blush, Crystal did as she was told. It certainly felt less embarrassing…

Blue slung her bag over her shoulders and watched Gold carry Crystal out of the room, with Emerald following (carrying their stuff). Occasionally, Gold abruptly stopped or hopped, just to be as annoying to Crystal as possible. She whacked him in the shoulder each time, making him laugh. With a smile, Blue followed her two juniors back to the lodge, wondering what else was waiting for everyone in the remainder of this vacation.


	4. Stranded - GC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was first uploaded on March 14, 2011.

**Primary: Gold & Crystal** **.**

Stranded:

Crystal finished re-arranging the bags in her cabin and let out a sigh. For a vacation, she had decided to take Gold to the Icefall Cave in Four Island of the Sevii Islands. The icicles and the frozen lake inside the cave were supposedly beautiful and she wanted to see it. So after convincing Gold, she managed to drag him all the way to Vermillion City, where the Sea Gallop awaited them. Unfortunately, Crystal and Gold had to share a cabin, and like the irresponsible jerk that he was, Gold dumped all of his luggage in the cabin and disappeared somewhere, leaving Crystal with the mess.

The ship left the harbor soon, and Crystal left the cabin to find Gold. She received a call from Blue (currently in One Island), who gave her some suggestions on where to visit afterwards.

Crystal headed towards the side of the ship and looked at the sea. The water was sparkling beautifully and she smiled as she looked onwards. They were currently passing past Two Island, meaning that their destination wasn’t too far. But not too far away, she could see a large whirlpool… Crystal instantly turned and headed towards her cabin in case something went wrong.

She could feel the ship steadily turning direction as the whirlpool began to drag it closer. Suddenly, she felt a very powerful collision, which threw her back towards the narrow hallway. She slammed her upper back hard against the wall, and she felt the air escape her lungs. Feeling very dazed, she struggled back to her feet but the ship was shaking violently. Crystal staggered back and forth, trying to regain balance, but before she could, the floor beneath her cracked and soon broke. She fell through the hole and landed hard on the floor below. The pain she felt almost knocked her unconscious. She couldn’t move her body, and she feared that she would die there. Before long, she could hear footsteps approaching her as she wavered in and out of unconsciousness.

“Hey, … …erious Ga… …ap out of it! … … I’ll get you out. Jus… in ther…”

Crystal felt someone lift her up and support her from the side. In her state, she couldn’t recognize who was helping her, but it didn’t really matter. She tried to say her thanks, but as she tried to open her mouth, she lost consciousness.

…

Crystal woke up from the constant waves crashing onto the shore beside her. She didn’t know what happened; she remembered being on a ship with Gold, heading towards Four Islands for a vacation, then she saw a whirlpool and… Crystal instantly snapped out of her semi-conscious state.

‘ _Gold!_ ’

Quickly, she pushed herself off the ground, but nearly collapsed. She couldn’t breathe, and ended up vomiting the water she swallowed. Shaking away the nausea, she scanned the area. It was starting to get dark, but she could see Gold lying on the shore a few meters away. She crawled over to him as fast as she could manage.

“Gold!” she called, but received no response. “Gold?” she called again. Upon arriving at his side, she could tell that he wasn’t conscious. “Come on, Gold, wake up!” she yelled, shaking him by the shoulders. He wasn’t even breathing… A thought occurred and she became seriously worried… “Tell me you’re not dead, Gold! You can’t die!”

After a few more unsuccessful shakes, she couldn’t help but let a few tears fall. She now had no choice but to use CPR. Crystal pinched Gold’s nose and placed her lips on his and blew air into his lungs. She then placed her hands on his chest and pushed down repeatedly.

“Come on Gold! If you die…”

After 10 pushes, she leaned over for another mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, when… Gold’s eyes snapped open. He let out a surprised yell and pushed her back while Crystal backed away from the sudden movement.

“Damn, Super Serious Gal,” Gold started, taking deep breaths to calm his surprise. “I know I’m irresistible, but restrain yourself! You may want me, but this (points to himself) is display-only! Hands off the merchandise!”

Crystal’s face turned red from embarrassment and anger.

“You jerk! Do you have any idea how much I was worried?” she screamed, despite feeling relieved that he was okay.

“Whoa, easy there, Crys,” Gold said, laughing. “I’m perfectly fine. And I’m glad that you are too.”

Crystal glared at him but her anger soon calmed. “What happened Gold? I saw a large whirlpool near the ship, but…”

“I was downstairs, exploring around, when the ship started to tilt,” Gold explained. “I ran to the windows to see what was happening, and I could see the whirlpool. But not only that, but there was a big rock right in the way. Collision seemed impossible to avoid, so I tried to get to you. But the ship hit the rock first, and while I tried to regain balance, the floor started to break. Then the ceiling broke apart and you fell down through. You passed out, so I had to carry you and escape. On the way, I saw a lifejacket, so I put one on you and… the ship sank. Lucky I found a spare oxygen tank, otherwise I would’ve been screwed.”

‘ _Lifejacket?_ ’ Crystal looked down. She could see the lifejacket on her… “Wait… why do I have the lifejacket but not you?”

“There was only one,” Gold replied.

Crystal fell silent, touched by Gold’s sacrifice. He had chosen to save her, even if it meant that he drowned.

“… Thank you…” she said silently. She suddenly sneezed as the wind started to blow.

Gold rose to his feet and tossed her his jacket. Crystal caught it and looked at him.

“Put it on, Crys. I’m going to go look for firewood.”

“Aren’t you cold?” Crystal asked.

“Nope,” Gold replied. “I’m invulnerable to such things.” He took a look around and headed towards the forest nearby.

Crystal smiled as she watched him. Though he didn’t say it, she knew him enough to know that he was just as cold as she was. He was just incapable of saying that he was going to make sacrifices for her.

She put the jacket on and rose to her feet. If Gold was getting firewood, then she might as well look for a place to build the fire.

…

Meanwhile…

…

Somewhat far away from the ship’s wreckage, several bags floated on the water, drifting aimlessly. The bags have been separated from their owners, and got caught in the whirlpool, pushing them further away from any hope of being found. From one of the bags, a pocket opened and a Politoed came out of its Pokéball. It opened the bag and looked inside. Apart from its own Pokéball, there were 5 more, and a device it recognized as a Pokédex. Relieved that nothing was lost, it began to push the bag away from all the other lost luggage.

Not too far away, the Politoed saw a familiar looking bag, and swam towards it. Upon opening the bag, it saw another Pokédex and 6 Pokéballs. From one of them, a Xatu came out and perched on a floating chunk of the ship.

After a short discussion, the Politoed swam away, looking for some large chunks of wood, while the Xatu kept an eye on the area. The Politoed soon returned with a giant chunk of wood, which appeared to be a piece of the floor of the ship. When the Xatu deemed that it was big enough, another Pokéball opened and a Typhlosion came out.

After another short discussion, the Politoed began to push the chunk of wood while Xatu navigated, and the Typhlosion sped the movement with a series of Flamethrowers, propelling the makeshift raft like a jet.

…

Few hours later…

…

Gold sat by the fire while he poked at the burning firewood with his indestructible billiard cue. Lucky for him, the cue was one of the two items that did not get lost in the shipwreck. The other one was the supply bag that he was wearing. The supply bag consisted of snacks, water, and a first aid kit. Everything else, including Pokémon, food, map, Pokégear, and others were lost.

Crystal, who was hugging her knees and stared into the fire, suddenly sighed.

“Super Serious Gal, what’s wrong?” Gold asked, noticing the depressed expression on her face.

The girl looked away from the fire and stared into his eyes. She let out another long sigh and looked even more depressed.

“Aren’t you worried at all?” she asked. “I mean… we’re lost… What if we can’t go back home? What if we can’t see our friends again?”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Sooner or later we’ll find a way out. After all, our friends will be looking all over Sevii Islands looking for us. Since we were on the way there, they’re bound to spot the smoke from our fire. We’ll be fine.”

“But what about our Pokémon? They’re lost too.”

Gold fell silent. “… Our Pokémon can take care of themselves,” he said after a long while. “They’ll be all right, Crys.”

Suddenly, Crystal started to sob. Gold looked at her for a second before he moved to sit beside her. He put his arm over her shoulders and tried to calm her down.

“I’m telling you, Crys, everything’s going to be fine.”

“I’m sorry, Gold,” Crystal sobbed out. “I never should’ve suggested that we go to Four Island…”

“Crys, this isn’t your fault.”

“But…”

“You’re delirious. I think you should try to sleep,” Gold suggested. “Once you rest, I’m sure you’ll feel much better.”

Gold embraced Crystal as she slowly calmed down. But because he was sitting beside her, he failed to see the Blast Burn aimed at the sky from far behind…

…

Meanwhile, in One Island, Blue sat outside her house, looking up at the stars. Many years ago, she used to look up at the stars as if they had a method for her to escape from the Mask of Ice. Once she escaped a few years afterwards, she looked up at the stars, wondering where her parents were. She thought that they would be looking at the stars as well, and it somewhat comforted her to know that they were looking at the same thing.

Nowadays, she looked at the stars just to enjoy the view, and think about how happy she is compared to her past. Suddenly, she saw a stream of fire aimed at the sky from far, far away. Surprised, she paid more attention to the fire, but it ended shortly. It didn’t take long for her to recognize what it was.

‘ _That looked like Blast Burn… Only Green, Gold, Sapphire, and that old lady Brinca can use that move…_ ’ Blue thought, suddenly becoming worried. ‘ _Green and Sapphire are nowhere near here, and Two Island isn’t in that direction… which means… Gold._ ’ A thought occurred and Blue jumped to her feet. ‘ _A signal flare? Something must’ve happened!_ ’

Blue quickly reached for her Pokégear and called Crystal. But she didn’t pick up.

More surprised, Blue quickly ran inside her house, got her coat and a flashlight, and with her Jigglypuff, flew towards the area where the Blast Burn originated.

Half an hour later, Blue began to wonder whether she passed the area she was looking for. But just as she was about to turn around, she saw something glowing reddish orange not too far away. Blue pointed her flashlight at it. She could see a Typhlosion on a chunk of wood, along with two bags, a Politoed, and a Xatu. Upon taking a closer look, Blue recognized them as Gold’s Explotaro, Politaro, and Crystal’s Tupeon.

Blue quickly got her Jigglypuff to lower the altitude while she quickly pulled out her Pokégear.

“Silver?” she said once he picked up after a few rings. “Silver, listen. Get _everyone_ over to One Island _right now_!”

“Uh… sis? It’s 10 pm. Isn’t it a little late?” Silver asked.

“Right now, Silver!” Blue said hastily. “Something happened to Gold and Crys!”

“Got it,” Silver said, quickly hanging up.

Blue put her Pokégear away and signaled her juniors’ Pokémon to get back in their Pokéballs. Once they did, she picked up the bags and headed back home.

…

Several hours later…

…

Blue groaned as she put a hand on her forehead. She tried to see if her juniors’ Pokémon could tell her anything, but it was useless. She turned to look at the clock. It was 10 pm when she attempted to get some information, but it was 5 am now.

‘ _Only if Yellow was here…_ ’ she thought with a sigh.

But before long, someone knocked on the door, and realizing that the other Dex Holders were here, Blue quickly ran to open it. She let them inside and dragged Yellow towards Gold’s Explotaro.

Yellow closed her eyes and put a hand on the Typhlosion’s forehead. Images ran through her mind as the Typhlosion recalled the shipwreck.

The other Dex Holders watched nervously as Yellow started to frown. Her hand was beginning to twitch, and a couple of seconds later, she pulled away after a gasp.

“Yellow, what happened?” Blue asked.

“They… they were passing by Two Island when the ship was caught in a whirlpool,” Yellow started after a few seconds. “The ship hit a giant rock and it sank… Gold and Crystal weren’t near their Pokémon when it happened…”

Emerald, who had been worrying about Crystal, looked alarmed.

Green cleared his throat. “You heard her, let’s get going! Everyone, take a Pokémon that can navigate around water. If you have more than one, then lend it to someone who doesn’t!”

Green tossed his Golduck’s Pokéball to Emerald. Red gave his Gyarados to Diamond, and Platinum received Crystal’s Xatu. Green took Sapphire’s Wailord and gave it to Blue.

“You and Yellow stay here and see if you can get some more information,” Green said. “You know the Sevii Islands better than anyone, Blue. So you should be able to tell us where to go if you find out anything. And take Sapphire’s Wailord. It’s big enough for everyone to get on, so it’ll be our rescue boat.”

Blue nodded and received Wailord’s Pokéball.

“We’ll call you if we find anything, and you can come to us with the Wailord,” Green said. “We’ll signal where we are so you can find us.” The Gym Leader turned to face the other Dex Holders. “All right, listen up. Red and Sapphire, search around this island. Report anything odd to Blue. Ruby and Emerald, search around Two Island. Silver and Pearl, you’ll take Three Island. Diamond and Platinum, Four Island. I’ll take Five Island. Now, let’s move!”

…

Meanwhile…

…

Gold continued to stare at the slowly dying fire while resting his head on Crystal’s, as if the glare alone would keep the fire alive. Crystal had fallen asleep in his embrace several hours ago, but he didn’t sleep at all. He couldn’t. Though he assured Crystal that their Pokémon would be fine, he was really worried. He spent his entire life with them (except Typhlosion), and couldn’t bear the thought of losing them. And because of that, he remained awake… Also he was really hungry.

He looked at Crystal. Though she didn’t say it, he knew that she was just as hungry as he was. Gold began to wonder if it was his fault that they didn’t have enough food. If only he had packed more… Because he had never anticipated that this would happen, he only packed one uncooked Cianwood sweet potato and one water bottle. With a sigh, he took his billiard cue (still unscathed despite being in the fire for hours), stabbed the sweet potato on the end, and stuck it into the dying flame. If Crystal blamed herself for the shipwreck, then Gold blamed himself for the lack of food. And as such, he was going to save her from starvation.

Two hours later, Crystal began to stir. Gold quickly pretended to be asleep.

Crystal opened her eyes and took a few seconds to remember where she was. She realized that she was leaning on Gold’s shoulder and instantly pulled away, seriously blushing. It was a good thing that he was still asleep…

“… Thank you, Gold,” she said silently. After a few seconds of hesitation, she reached over and kissed him in the cheek. But to her horror, Gold started to grin. ‘ _He’s awake?_ ’

“… You want to tell me what that was about, Super Serious Gal?” Gold said, slowly opening his eyes.

“G – Gold! W – When did you wake up?”

“I never slept,” Gold replied. “So, what’s your answer?”

“I – It’s just m – my way of thanking you,” Crystal lied, covering her cheeks with her hands to hide the blush.

“Really? So you thank everyone by kissing them? That makes you-”

“No! Not everyone! Just you!”

Gold started to laugh. “I thought so!” He reached for his billiard cue and pulled it out of the fire. “Here, you look hungry,” he said, carefully removing the sweet potato from the tip of the cue (so he doesn’t get burned).

The sweet potato (wrapped in tin foil) landed on Crystal’s leg, and she quickly pushed it off. “Ow!”

“Oops, I just wanted to heat it up for you, Crys,” Gold said with a grin. “Looks like it was too much though. It’s a common mistake, so don’t get angry.”

“Don’t get angry?” Crystal yelled angrily. “What if I was _burned_ , Gold?!”

Gold let out a long sigh. “Just like the old days, huh, Crys?”

Crystal smiled after a few seconds of thought. “Just like the old days, Gold…”

Gold took his cue and put the sweet potato back on its tip. He then carefully removed the tin foil around the sweet potato and began to peel it.

“Here, Crys,” he said, giving the cue to Crystal. “Eat it.”

“What about you?” Crystal asked, receiving the cue.

“I’m not hungry,” Gold replied nonchalantly.

“Yes you are.”

“No I’m not.”

Gold’s stomach started to growl. Crystal smiled. “See, you _are_ hungry.” She took a small bite from the sweet potato. She moved the tip of the cue towards Gold’s mouth. “Now you take a bite. We’ll share. I’ll eat this half, and you eat the other half.”

‘ _Then… when we get to the middle of the sweet potato…_ ’ Gold started to laugh again. “Are you trying to thank me again, Crys? You just can’t get enough of this, can you?”

Crystal blushed, realizing her mistake. She started to stammer when Gold stopped her.

“I told you already that this was for display only, right? But if you wanted VIP access, then I can help you with that.”

Gold took a big bite from his side of the sweet potato. After a wink, he rose to his feet.

“I’ll be right back, Super Serious Gal. We need some more firewood.”

…

15 hours later, 10 pm…

…

It was dark once again, and marked the second night on the island. Gold sat beside Crystal once again and stared into the fire. Crystal had fallen asleep, but Gold still couldn’t. This time, he was worried about what would happen. The water bottle was empty, and there was nothing to eat.

Suddenly, Crystal grunted in her sleep. Gold, realizing that she was uncomfortable, carefully set her on the ground and rose to his feet. He put his jacket on top of her like a blanket, and with a makeshift torch, entered the forest. Thankfully, not that deep into the forest, he spotted some Pecha Berries on the berry plant. Though there were at most three ripe berries, Gold felt relieved that there was now a source of food and water at the same time. He picked the berries and returned to the camp, where Crystal was asleep. It was possible that there were dangers on the island, which was why he couldn’t leave her by herself for too long, and which was why he didn’t sleep. He had to protect her, no matter what.

Relieved that nothing happened while he was gone, Gold put the three Pecha Berries on his bag and sat beside Crystal, with his billiard cue in hand.

…

Next day, 6 am…

…

Crystal soon woke up from her sleep and sat up. Noticing that Gold’s jacket was on her, she quickly turned to look at Gold. He was sitting right beside her, looking at the horizon with a blank look.

“… Gold?”

The goggled boy snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Crystal. “Ah, you’re awake, huh? How’d you sleep?”

“Did… did you sleep at all?” Crystal asked, noticing the dark circles around Gold’s bloodshot eyes. To her surprise, he shook his head. “Why?”

“You never know whether there’s something dangerous on the island,” Gold replied. “Someone has to remain awake and stay on guard.”

“You never said anything about…” Crystal trailed off when a thought came to her. Gold had chosen to remain awake to guard her from possible dangers. He didn’t tell her about it because he wanted her to rest… “Gold…”

“Hey, Super Serious Gal, look at what I picked yesterday,” he said, taking a Pecha Berry from his bag. He tossed her one and took one for himself.

Looking at the Pecha berry in her hands, Crystal began to realize that Gold was a lot more responsible and mature when he needed to be. Deciding to take better care of him from now on, Crystal took a bite.

…

Meanwhile…

…

Platinum flew around Four Island on her senior’s Xatu, looking for a sign that her seniors were alive. A few kilometers away, she could see Green flying on his Charizard, scanning around Five Island. The heiress looked down, and saw Diamond on Red’s Gyarados. While Diamond looked from below, Platinum flew farther away from Four Island, broadening the search radius.

Several minutes later, she noticed something and quickly flew towards an island. She had spotted a small column of smoke coming from near the shore, which was very unusual…

On the island, Gold looked up at the cloudless blue sky. He took a closer look as he saw something from far away approach the island very fast…

The heiress soon arrived at the island and freed herself from Xatu’s grip. She landed softly on the sand some 100 meters away from the source of the smoke, so she started to run. Much to her surprise, she could see Gold lying face down on the water near the shore.

“Senior Gold!” the heiress shrieked, running even faster.

She dragged her senior onto land and flipped him so that he lay face-up. The heiress shook him, but he didn’t wake up. His eyes remained shut and he wasn’t breathing.

“Senior Gold, please! Wake up!” the heiress screamed again.

But her senior remained motionless. Platinum started to panic and she looked around frantically, trying to think of what to do. Not too far away, she could see Crystal, also lying on the ground.

The heiress ran towards her and tried to wake her up. Again, she was unsuccessful. The heiress dragged Crystal over towards Gold and desperately tried to think of what to do. Suddenly, she felt movement directly behind her, and quickly spun around. Much to her horror, Gold, who was dead a second ago, had sat up and was looking at her with his mouth open and eyes blank.

Platinum screamed as she stumbled backwards. But then, Gold started to laugh. Much to the heiress’s surprise, Crystal also sat up.

“I’m really sorry for scaring you, Platinum,” she said with an apologetic look. “It was Gold’s idea…”

The heiress let out a short cry of joy and embraced Crystal. “I was so worried, seniors! I was afraid that you were dead!”

Gold set a hand on the heiress’s shoulder. “Die? Come on, Dex Holders never d-”

“Gold, shut up. We’re lucky to have survived this long,” Crystal said, patting her junior on the back. “All right Platinum, let’s get out of here.”

“Yes, senior!” The heiress pulled out her Pokégear and contacted Blue. She then sent out her Rapidash and had it use Flamethrower aimed at the sky, acting as a signal flare to the Dex Holders nearby.

Gold slowly rose to his feet and took the last Pecha Berry from his supply bag. He split it in half and gave one half to Crystal.

Crystal received the berry and also stood up. Noticing that Platinum was busy calling the other Dex Holders, she silently whispered to Gold.

“Thank you for everything, Gold.”


	5. Distress - GB

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the only remaining Green & Blue one-shot in SE, as all the others were purged. It's because this chapter is rather important for Special Adventures (SA).
> 
> This chapter was originally uploaded on April 28, 2011

**Primary: Green & Blue.**

Distress:

8 am…

Green took a drink from a cup of water as he read the newspaper. The schedule for that day was quite full. There was a Gym Leader’s meeting (which he hated going to) at 10, a training session with Sapphire at 12, a lunch meeting with Crystal (in which he would check how her research was going) at 2, a practice Gym Battle with Platinum at 3, either an actual Gym Battle or a training session with her at 4, then he would treat the heiress to a dinner, during which he would suggest what Gym she should challenge next.

With all that stuff, Green expected that he’d be home by 8 pm that day, and he could then start his own training.

As he poured himself a second cup of water, he heard his Pokégear ring from his room upstairs. After taking another drink, he headed upstairs, wondering who would call at that time. Probably Erika, calling the other Gym Leaders.

By the time he reached his Pokégear, it had stopped ringing. Green took his Pokégear and checked who called. Apparently it was Blue who called, and unlike all the other times, she chose to leave him a voice mail.

‘ _Great… what does she want now?_ ’ Green thought as he pressed the button to play the voice mail.

A moment later, Blue’s sweet voice came from the Pokégear. But her voice was devoid of the usual cheerfulness.

_“Green, have I ever told you how much I appreciate our friendship?”_

“What the…”

Blue had never said anything like that before. Green tried calling her. There was no answer. Usually Blue would answer the moment he called.

‘ _How odd…_ ’

Green shook his head and headed downstairs to get ready for the Gym Leader’s meeting. He figured that Blue would call him back if she had anything important to say.

30 minutes later, Blue did call again. When Green answered, he realized that it wasn’t Blue calling, but rather another voice mail. It was like an automated message.

_“I can’t imagine what my life would’ve been like if it weren’t for you and Red. Thank you.”_

Green ran back upstairs to his room and got his coat. Something was clearly wrong with Blue, and he was going to find out what.

The very first place Green flew to was One Island where Blue lived. But the girl herself wasn’t at her house, and according to her parents, she left somewhere the day before and hasn’t returned.

As Green prepared to fly to Pallet Town, his Pokégear rang again. He checked his watch. It was 9 am. So these automated messages were sent once every half hour.

_“I’ve enjoyed every moment we spent together.”_

Green clenched his teeth. Something had happened to Blue, she wasn’t home, and he had no clue where she was. Perhaps he could get someone to trace the message to a source…

Green had his Charizard fly straight to Cherrygrove City of Johto. He jumped off when he was a few meters above the ground and landed right in front of the Pokémon Center. Inside, he found the person he was looking for, sitting at a table, reading a book with a glass of iced tea in hand.

“Crystal,” Green called as he walked closer. There was no response. The girl probably didn’t hear him as the Pokémon Center was quite busy. “Crystal,” he called again, louder and closer this time. Again, no response. Green tried something different. “Hey, Super Serious!”

As expected, Crystal looked up from her book and looked at him. Spotting her senior, she quickly closed the book and rose to her feet. There was a slight hint of confusion on her face though.

“Ah, Green! I didn’t know you were here,” she said with a slight bow. “Um… why are you here? I thought you had a Gym Leader’s meeting… and… what did you call me?”

“Seems like you spent too much time with Gold,” Green said. “I called your name twice, but you only reacted when I used your nickname. I’m here because of an emergency. Something has come up and I need your help.”

Crystal looked surprised. “An emergency? Oh, I don’t like the sound of that…”

Green tossed her his Pokégear and sat down on a chair. Crystal sat on her seat across the table from him and looked at the Pokégear.

Green checked his watch. “3 minutes… Crystal, listen. I need you to trace the message that will be sent to my Pokégear in 3 minutes and find out where it’s coming from.”

“Um… okay,” the girl said as she pulled out her laptop from her bag. She looked quite confused. Once the computer booted, she plugged the Pokégear into it and began to do stuff (starting whatever programs and stuff). “Why me? Isn’t Blue a lot better at this?”

“Yes. But this emergency relates to her, and you’re the a lot more technologically savvy than me.”

Crystal nodded and resumed her focus to her laptop. Green noticed that her hands were slightly trembling.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“It’s just that… the last time someone told me that there was an emergency,” she started, looking at him once more. “It was when you, Red, Blue, Yellow, and Silver were petrified. Every time I hear ‘emergency’ I just get reminded of that…”

“Don’t worry, Crystal. Tragedy like that won’t happen again.” ‘ _I hope._ ’

Soon, the Pokégear began to ring. Green increased the volume so that Crystal may hear.

_“You like me, don’t you? I know you do. I feel the same about you.”_

Crystal frowned upon hearing the message, and rapidly began typing on her laptop. Half a minute later, she stopped and took a breath.

“Okay, I couldn’t trace it completely, but the source is coming from somewhere in Johto,” she said. “Northwest from here.”

“Hmm…”

“What’s happening? Blue would never talk like this… She sounds as if-”

“I know. That’s why I need to find her quickly.”

Crystal nodded and put her laptop away. “I’ll need to come with you. These automated distress calls are made at regular intervals, so maybe I can pinpoint the source eventually.”

Green rose to his feet and headed out of the Pokémon Center. Crystal packed up and followed. Before long, they were in the air, flying northwest. They didn’t fly too fast, as they needed to scan the general area.

At 10 am, the fifth automated message arrived.  


_“I know you think I’m annoying at times, and I’m sorry.”_

Crystal carefully balanced her laptop on one hand and typed something with the other. They were currently over Violet City, yet the signal still originated from a position northwest.

Green and Crystal continued to head northwest. They scanned the area for anything suspicious, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. They reached Ecruteak City when the sixth message arrived. And this time, Green and Crystal were on the ground, with the laptop ready (they learned from the whole aerial-laptop usage last time).

_“Do you remember the first time we met? I remember. I go back to that place every now and then to relive the memories.”_

“Got it!” Crystal exclaimed. “The source is in Route 38. Close to Olivine.”

Green climbed back onto Charizard and flew straight towards Olivine City. Crystal put her laptop away and got her Xatu to take her towards Olivine as well. Roughly three quarters of the way to Olivine, they spotted something peculiar. There was a trail of Tauros, all fainted, that led towards a ring of Pokémon. Upon closer inspection, Green recognized one of the leading Pokémon to be Blue’s Blastoise.

Green and Crystal quickly ran towards the ring of Pokémon. Upon seeing them, the Blastoise relaxed and stepped aside. It looked awfully exhausted, same with the other five of Blue’s Pokémon forming the ring. In the center of the small ring, Green found Blue. Crystal gasped and shut her eyes. Her senior lay on the ground, her right arm and both legs bent in odd angles, dried blood forming trails from her forehead and mouth, and her clothes were dyed crimson.

Green quickly crouched in front of her and checked her pulse. She was still alive, just barely. Green went over the list of injuries.

“Big cut on the side of her head… looks like she hit her head on a tree. Blood from the mouth… probably an internal damage. Broken arm, broken calf bone on the left leg, knee on the other… and…” Green checked the center of the huge patch of crimson on Blue’s clothes. There was a big clump of what appeared to be cloth on her side. He removed the clump and noticed a big gaping wound. “It looks like she got hit by the horn of a Tauros… From all these bruises, it looks like she got trampled a little afterwards before her Pokémon took over.”

Crystal shuddered but forced herself to look. “That looks like a roll of bandage,” she said, pointing to the clump of cloth-like thing. “I think she tried to stop the bleeding herself before she passed out.”

Green nodded. “That’s the reason she’s still alive. Her quick thinking saved her. And it seems that her Pokémon didn’t try to move her because her injuries were too great.” He sighed and took a look around. “All of you, return to your Pokéballs,” he commanded to Blue’s Pokémon. “You did well in protecting her. I’ll take over from here.”

“There’s a really good doctor who lives in Cianwood City,” Crystal said. “Maybe we should go to him.”

“Right.” Green took Blue’s Pokéballs and looked at Crystal. “You’ll need to ride Charizard with me. We can’t move Blue ourselves. Your Xatu will need to use Psychic to lift her without her moving at all. Any movement may worsen the injuries for all we know.”

On the way to Cianwood, Green called Erika and explained why he wasn’t there in Celadon, and why he didn’t call her to tell her that he wasn’t coming. Though Erika was asking what the emergency was, he didn’t bother answer and simply hung up. He wasn’t in the mood to explain things.

After meeting with the doctor and waiting as Blue went through all the medical procedures, Green called Sapphire and Platinum and told them that their training session would have to be postponed. He didn’t tell them why. If he did, then they would surely come to Cianwood, and he was sure that Blue would need quiet rest, thus fewer people would be preferred. His two juniors sounded very disappointed, but they would have to understand.

Blue was expected to make a full recovery, although it would take a long while and she would have trouble walking for quite some time. After seeing her injuries fully treated, Green left to get some fresh air. He’d been in the hospital for a few hours, waiting for the doctor to update him on Blue’s condition.

During the wait, he received more of Blue’s automated messages, but they were all repetitions of the previous ones. It seemed that there were only six messages and a random one was selected and sent.

Green sat on a large rock near the ocean and stared into the sea. Crystal stood a few meters behind, watching her senior. She smiled and approached him. She got proof that Green wasn’t the heartless jerk that everyone thought he was.

“You look awfully worried. How about I buy you lunch? Maybe it’ll get your mind off of Blue for a while.”

“Hm?” Green snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Crystal. “Very well. We did schedule a lunch, after all.”

Crystal led Green to the nearest restaurant. She ordered herself a salad and a glass of water while Green just ordered a cup of coffee. He wasn’t really in the mood to eat anything.

“You know, Green,” Crystal started once she finished her salad. “You’re awfully quiet today. You care for Blue a lot more than I thought.”

Green raised an eyebrow. Did he detect a hint of teasing in her voice? “She’s a very close friend. You’d be worried too if Gold was in a similar state.” He took a sip from his coffee. “Speaking of Gold, how’s the research going? You were supposed to study why certain Pokémon Eggs take longer to hatch than others, and you were working with Gold.”

“It’s going okay,” Crystal replied. “I’ll give the full details once I feel it’s ready.” She sighed. “Why is it that _every_ assignment I’m given is with Gold or near him? I had enough of his bragging and complaining years ago.”

“It’s because you and Gold work well together. For the same reason, every assignment I give Platinum is always with Diamond.”

Crystal’s expression suddenly changed to a half panic state. “Wait… are you suggesting-”

“Face it. Gold likes you. And you like him back.”

“N – No, I-”

“You can’t lie to me, Crystal. I’ve seen your expression when I tell you to work with Gold. You like the idea.”

Crystal groaned. “Don’t tell me _you’re_ going to laugh at me too! Silver and Emerald have been laughing at me for a year now!”

Green chuckled and finished his coffee. “Don’t worry. I have no intention of mentioning this ever again. Now that I think about it, I sounded awfully like Blue. It seems that I spent too much time with her.”

“You should really take good care of her,” Crystal said. “After all she’s been through, she’s finally happy nowadays.”

“I know.” Green rose to his feet. “I’m going to go check on her now. You should go home, Crystal. Enough people’s schedules have been ruined this day.”

“Eh?” Crystal rose to object, but Green was already on his way towards the cashier. She quickly went after him. “Green, I thought I was buying you lunch today.”

“I won’t let a junior buy me lunch,” Green replied. “And besides, I was supposed to buy lunch today.”

Crystal looked stunned for a second before she bowed slightly. “Thank you for the lunch.”

Outside, Green watched as Crystal sent out her Xatu, preparing to return to New Bark Town (to Gold’s house, for the research assignment).

“Oh, Crystal,” he said as a thought occurred.

“Yes?”

“Tell the others. But remember, Blue would need quiet rest. You know what to do.”

“Yes. I understand. But I’m not sure if I can convince Silver to stay put.”

After a short while, Crystal bowed to her senior and flew towards New Bark. The Viridian Gym Leader headed back to the hospital and entered the room where Blue was. She looked rather peaceful on the bed. She had bandages wrapped around her head, neck, waist, back, arms, and legs, so just about everywhere. Her head was fine except for the gash on the side of her head. No permanent damage, thankfully. But she did have several shattered bones in her arms and legs, injured neck, a few broken ribs, a punctured kidney (that would heal with some help), and a minor blood loss problem.

Green felt that Blue was lucky to have survived the accident, and even luckier to have suffered no permanent damage. He was sure to tell her that once she woke up, whenever that would be.

…

Next day, 6:50 am…

…

Green woke up from his sleep when his Pokégear vibrated.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Sorry to bother you so early,” came Crystal’s voice. “But Silver’s on his way to Cianwood right now. I couldn’t contact him yesterday, but he heard the news and threatened the information out of Gold.”

“Thanks for letting me know. Blue hasn’t woken up yet. Silver will need to remain quiet.”

After he hung up he went back inside Blue’s room (Green slept in the waiting room). To his surprise, he noticed that Blue had moved a little in her sleep, as her left arm was above the blanket. Meaning, she was no longer unconscious.

“Blue? Are you awake?” Green asked quietly. He walked closer and put his hand on her left shoulder. “Blue?”

The girl suddenly grunted. “Ow…”

Green pulled his hand back, realizing that there was a bruise on the girl’s shoulder. “So you’re awake?”

“Apparently so, Green,” Blue replied quietly. She forced her eyes to open and looked at him. “It’s good to see you again.”

Green sighed. “Pesky girl… what did you get yourself into?” Blue tried to sit up, but Green held her down. “You need your rest.” He handed her a notepad that listed all of her injuries.

She took the notepad with her good hand read the list. “Wow. That’s quite a list,” she muttered. “I suppose I’m lucky to be alive.”

“Yes. You’re also lucky enough to be able to make a full recovery. No permanent damage, no memory loss, anything.”

Blue pushed the note aside and looked around the room. “Hey, where is everyone?”

“No one’s here, Blue. I figured that you’d need quiet rest so I made everyone stay home.”

Blue smiled. “You know what’s best for me. I made the right choice after all.”

“You talk too much. You need your rest.”

“Thank you, Green,” Blue said anyways. “I knew that you would be the best person to call for help. Red and Silver would’ve done something reckless, but I knew that you would remain calm and be the best help.”

Now Green understood why the automated messages were sent to him, and only him (seeing how no one else knew).

“Blue, we’ll talk once you’re feeling better. For now, get some rest.”

“Fine. One last thing, though,” Blue said. She started to cough. “Come closer; my throat is hurting.” Green did as told so that she may whisper to him. When he came close enough, Blue suddenly pulled him closer with her good arm and kissed him in the mouth. “Thanks again,” she said once the kiss ended a few seconds later. She gave him a wink before she closed her eyes.

But before Green turned away, his Pokégear vibrated as another automated message was received. Blue reached for the pendant on her necklace and pressed it.

“What did you just do?”

“Ever since the whole Deoxys incident a few years ago, I programmed a little device on my necklace that would sent a recorded message to you if I press it for a few seconds. That way you would be able to track my location if I need help, and in worst case scenarios, I would be able to tell you how I feel before I die.”

“Blue, I have no problem telling you that those messages worried me.”

Blue smiled faintly. “I’m glad. It means that you really care about me…”

Green wanted to argue, but chose not to. She wasn’t wrong. Besides, he told her to get some rest, and arguing would do the exact opposite. Maybe once she woke up, he’d argue then. Then again, maybe not. He didn’t want to get into an argument he knew he’d lose.

Now, the only things left on his schedule were preventing Silver from waking up Blue, and preventing Crystal from saying anything about the whole Blue business she was involved in. There was no need to increase the number of people who would annoy him with that mess.


	6. Party - GC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was first uploaded on May 4, 2011.
> 
> It also contains a preview of Special Adventures, which I will begin uploading to this site in a few days.

**Primary: Gold & Crystal.**

Party:

Hearthome City, Sinnoh, 6:10 pm…

The ballroom was packed to the brim, filled with people celebrating. The Pokémon Association had decided to throw a party, celebrating the 3rd year in a row without any world-threatening disaster. A very rare and joyous occasion indeed. All those who were involved in all of the world-saving moments were invited, apart from a few others. Of course, all the regions’ professors, their assistants, and every Dex Holder were invited as well.

Winona stood in the corner with her arms crossed. Although the whole dance and party began 10 minutes ago, she didn’t feel like dancing. She didn’t really fit in with the groups either, as she didn’t bother attending with a dress (rather, wore complete flight gear, ready to climb onto her Altaria and fly off if needed) and didn’t like the idea of dancing to begin with. The only reason she came was because she was the supervisor of the Hoenn Gym Leaders.

Winona grumbled as she watched some of her friends and colleagues dance. She was really bored, and her only possible source of entertainment had yet to arrive. She shut her eyes, wishing Sapphire and Ruby would hurry up. Watching them bicker was definitely better than doing absolutely nothing.

When she opened her eyes, she could see Wallace standing right in front of her. She jumped in surprise at his sudden appearance, but quickly regained composure. Winona scanned him head to toe, noting the really expensive looking suit.

“What?” she asked.

Wallace took a graceful bow. “Would you care to share a dance?”

Winona adjusted the goggles on her helmet before crossing her arms again. “What do you think?” she retorted.

“Come on, Winona. It’s a _party_. Lighten up!”

“What exactly makes you think that I’ll dance with you?”

“Because we used to, all the time.”

“That was a long time ago. We aren’t related that way anymore, and your second attempt failed miserably too. So why keep trying?”

Wallace suddenly spun her around by her shoulders, caught her hand and kissed the back of her hand. “Because I know you like it.” Before Winona could protest and hide the massive blush, he led her to the center of the room. The Fortree Gym Leader struggled for a while, but eventually and reluctantly agreed to dance.

Before long, the double doors opened and the regions’ professors strode in, followed by their assistants. While the younger assistants scattered to participate in the song and dance, the older professors headed straight for the liquor corner, where they’d all have a drink and celebrate the rare occasion in their own way. The Dex Holders entered right after.

Gold, still wearing his hat, goggles, and carrying his billiard cue despite the fancy suit, saw all the people dancing and nudged Crystal.

“Hey, Super Serious Gal, do you even know how to dance?”

Crystal shook her head. A blatant lie, but she didn’t want to be seen in public dancing, especially with Gold. She already felt ridiculous enough in the dark blue _dress_ she was wearing. She’d feel much more comfortable in a lab coat.

“How about I teach you?” Gold offered with a grin.

“Not in a hundred years,” Crystal replied.

With a sigh, she headed towards the food corner. Most, if not all, Dex Holders didn’t eat dinner yet, so they all headed towards the food corner. Gold however, chose to have a little fun before eating, and ran off somewhere.

Sapphire grumbled as she took a seat. The red dress Ruby made was really uncomfortable. Not to mention the fact that she had no clue how to dance, and didn’t want to either. And Ruby was now bragging about his ‘beautiful’ suit and how great he can dance. She resisted the urge to tell him that the suit and the dress he made sucked, and that his dancing skills were below average. She knew that arguing of such things would result in her telling him that she was better at dancing than he was. Sapphire turned to Green, who simply sat on a chair, waiting for the event to end.

“Green, you’re a Gym Leader. Can you tell the Pokémon Association that this whole idea really sucks?”

“Your teacher is also a Gym Leader, and the supervisor of the Hoenn Gym Leaders. Get her to say it,” Green replied. “There she is,” he said, pointing towards the center of the room. “Along with Wallace, I see.”

Ruby turned, saw his master dancing with Winona, and dragged Sapphire towards them. His intention: brag about the ‘excellent’ work he did on his suit and Sapphire’s dress.

“Ruby, I swear I’ll _kill_ you if…” Sapphire trailed off, stunned by the fact that her coach was dancing with Wallace. “Coach!” she yelled, as she ran towards them, dragging Ruby along with her. Her intention: congratulate her coach about getting together with Wallace and attempt to steer the conversation away from a certain sissy’s handiwork.

…

Half an hour later…

…

Crystal searched through the crowd of dancing couples, trying to find Gold. Though she had no intention of dancing with him, she wanted to make sure that he wasn’t with some random girl either. Blue would call it jealousy. Crystal would call it… something else.

“Crystal, is that you?” came a suspiciously familiar voice from behind.

Crystal turned around and it took her a second to recognize who she was looking at. “Eusine?” To her horror, he reached forward and clasped her hand.

“Crystal, it’s been too long. And might I say,” he said, kissing her hand. “That you look beautiful today.”

The girl blushed in embarrassment and tried to pull her hand back. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“What do you mean?”

“I seriously doubt that you were invited to this event.”

“Please… of course I was invited!”

“What? All these people had a major role in saving the world! From Red and Green to the trainers who sent their Pokémon to calm Lugia and Ho oh, they _all_ saved the world! What did you do?”

“Why, Crystal! I’m offended! I saved you and the Cerulean Gym Leader from my beloved Suicune’s crystal wall! How could you forget such heroism?”

“Everyone knows that you only did so to save Suicune. There’s no way that you could’ve been invited!”

“Very well,” said Eusine, pulling her closer. “I will be honest. I had Morty pull some strings.”

Crystal sighed. “I figured as much.” She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes with her other hand and smiled. “Anyways, it’s been a while. What are you doing nowadays? Still chasing Suicune? Still selling Suicune pictures?”

“That doesn’t matter right now. Come, Crystal, I will show you how to dance!”

“Hey, hey, hey! What are you…”

Meanwhile, Platinum stood near the corner, watching all the couples dance. She wished that someone would dance with her, but so far, she didn’t like anyone who asked her. Unbeknownst to her, Diamond was watching her, wishing that he had the courage to ask her to dance.

Instead, he chose to sit at a table, stuffing food into his mouth. He occasionally looked up from his food to glance at Platinum, looking at the glittering silver dress, and how stunning it made her look. Pearl noticed the look on his friend’s face and shook his head.

“Dia, just go and ask Miss Lady for a dance!”

“I… I can’t!” Diamond said, hoping that no one else heard. “Besides, I don’t think she wants to. She refused to everyone.”

“That’s because they all made the same mistake. Haven’t you noticed that she kept pulling her hand away from them?”

“Well… yeah. I noticed it too. Every time someone touches her, she pulls away.”

“So go and ask her to dance before someone else takes her! You’re her friend, so she won’t say no!”

“I… I don’t know. What if she refuses?”

Pearl sighed. “Fine.” He walked towards Platinum and watched another poor sap try and fail to get the heiress to dance. He even tried to drag her towards the center of the room and received a slap to the face for his efforts. Pearl couldn’t help but snicker. “Miss Lady!” he called.

Platinum looked at him and smiled. “Hello, Pearl.”

“Miss Lady, would you like to dance?” he asked, extending a hand towards her.

The heiress hesitated and took a quick glance around her to find Diamond. She couldn’t find him in the split second, and instead noticed that there were few more people looking in her direction, waiting for a chance. Recalling that Pearl was quite a dancer, the heiress beamed at him. “If it means that I shall no longer be bothered, then yes, I accept.”

Platinum took Pearl’s hand and allowed him to lead her in the dance. As they participated in a slow dance, the heiress couldn’t help but wonder if Diamond was as good as Pearl. The heiress slightly frowned when she realized that Pearl was leading her somewhere while dancing.

After 10 minutes, Pearl stopped. Platinum took a step backwards and steadied her breathing. The last dance was quite fast paced, and when it ended, the heiress was out of breath. When she took a look around, she noticed that she was standing right in front of the table which Diamond was sitting at.

“Whew,” Pearl said from beside. “Hey, Dia, take over, will you? I need a break.”

Diamond jumped in surprise and nervously nodded. He wasn’t expecting Pearl to dance with Platinum just so that he could pass her over to him. Diamond nervously took Platinum’s hand and took a shuddering breath.

“I… uh… I’m not good at dancing, so… please forgive me,” he said. He avoided looking at her beautiful eyes and hoped that she would not notice him blushing.

The heiress was avoiding eye contact as well, and also hoped that he would not notice her blush. “That would not a problem, Diamond. But if… if you wish, perhaps I could teach you?”

“I would like that,” Diamond replied. ‘ _A lot…_ ’ He kept his gaze down, watching his feet so that he doesn’t step on Platinum’s toes.

“Diamond, you are doing well. Do not be so nervous,” the heiress said.

Diamond took a quick glance at her face. Maybe it was the lighting, but to him, it appeared that the heiress was blushing…

Gold, who was taking a break after a short dance with Liza, Roxanne, Flannery, and just about every female non-Dex Holder from Hoenn (except Winona, as Sapphire would surely murder him if he did anything), saw the two Sinnoh Dex Holders dance and rose to his feet. He was going to find Crystal and see if she’s willing to dance now. Noticing that she wasn’t near the other Dex Holders, he left to find her. Before long, he found her, and what he saw made his blood boil.

“Come on, Crystal! You dance beautifully!”

“Seriously, Eusine, let go of-”

“Hey, Suicune-freak!” Gold yelled, gaining the unwanted attention of the people nearby. “What the hell are you all looking at?” he yelled to them, making them all look away.

“Gold!” Crystal gasped out. “I-”

“Don’t know how to dance, huh? Didn’t want to dance, huh?” Gold said through clenched teeth.

“Now, now, Crystal is a very good dancer,” Eusine said from beside. He still held Crystal’s hands and ignoring Gold, proceeded to start another dance.

Gold withdrew his billiard cue and slammed the indestructible thing on Eusine’s hand, forcing him to break away from Crystal. When he tried to protest, Gold thrust the cue forward, as if he intended to stab him with it. Eusine quickly dodged, but the cue still pierced through his ‘signature’ cape.

“You, keep your hands off of my girl!”

“Gold! I don’t like him any more than you do, but this is-” Crystal tried to say, but abruptly stopped when Gold glared at her.

“This is completely unnecessary!” Eusine said as he examined the hole in his cape. “This cost me a fortune, you know!”

“You better get out of my sight before that _coat_ takes any more damage!”

Eusine quickly scurried away and Gold put his billiard cue away while still glaring in his direction. He sighed and turned to face Crystal.

“So what exactly were you doing with him?”

“I was trying to find you, but Eusine saw me and… Look, I didn’t want to dance with him, okay?” Crystal replied, carefully selecting her tone so that Gold would calm down. She crossed her arms and grinned.

“What could possibly be funny?” Gold asked.

Crystal grinned even more. “I guess now you know how I feel whenever I see you flirting, huh? You were _jealous_.”

“Come now, Crys. We’re… _dating_ , and you refused to dance with me but instead you were dancing with Suicune-freak. It’s not _jealousy_ , but rather… … something else.”

Crystal shook her head at his _familiar_ comment. “Gold, we went out once. And that trip to Lilycove City’s _make-out point_ didn’t go so well either.”

“But… we had fun!”

“ _You_ had fun. Pushing me into the ocean isn’t fun for me. Anyways, admit it. You were _jealous_.”

“All right, fine. You win, Super Serious Gal! I like you. And I was jealous at the fact that you were dancing with Suicune-freak and not me. Let’s just… drop the subject.”

Crystal smiled as she took his hands and moved closer to him. “Don’t worry, Gold. I’ll only like you, and no one else.”

“Good! Because I only like you too. All the other girls mean nothing, so don’t worry about them.”

Crystal stomped on Gold’s foot. “Seriously, Gold. Stop flirting with others. It’s one thing to have someone hit on you, and a completely different matter to have you hitting on them.”

“Fine, I won’t do anything that’ll make you jealous, Crys,” Gold said with a sigh. “But for the record, I never hit on another girl. They all came onto me.”

* * *

**The following is Special Adventures Preview #1:**

* * *

 

Gold staggered around aimlessly in the top floor of the Sprout Tower. He let his guard down, and now this… _thing_ took him over. What the hell was this thing anyways? A failed science experiment, that’s what. A mind-control device, that clearly wasn’t working properly since it didn’t control his mind. Well, not fully, at least. He kept getting urges to attack anything that moved, though…

Gold could see his reflection on a puddle of water in the center of the room. He looked like a twisted abomination now. A weird… _exoskeleton_ covered pretty much his entire body except for half of his face, and three extended tentacles on his right arm. He wasn’t deformed or mutated in any way, at least. Just… this experiment stuff formed on top of him. He wondered if throwing himself into an open fire would burn the stuff off of him.

He moved towards a window and looked down at the calm Violet City, wondering if he could ever return to himself and whether he would see her again. He wouldn’t want to see her right now, though. The last thing he wanted was her to see what happened to him.

… Then he heard her voice.

“Gold?”

Gold spun around and saw her. Crystal… Instantly, the experiment took control over his body and he ended up charging straight for her.

‘ _No, not her!_ ’

Gold tried his absolute best to prevent himself from attacking, but couldn’t stop. He could control his left arm, but nothing else. With his usable arm, he tried to point to the exit, hoping that Crystal would take the hint and leave. But even as his left arm pointed to the staircase, his right arm was lashing at her. Crystal ducked and rolled out of the way of the three tentacles.

“Gold, what happened to you?”

Hearing her voice again, Gold gained more strength. He grabbed his right wrist so that he may no longer attack Crystal. But when she came closer, the experiment became stronger. It gained control of the left arm, and in an instant, aimed a punch directly at her.

Gold shut his eyes in a futile attempt to stop the experiment, under the thought that it needed to see through his eyes to find its target. But Crystal’s screams busted his theory and Gold was forced to open his eyes. He almost passed out when he realized that the tentacles on his right arm had hit Crystal’s left leg, and shattered the bones in three separate places.

She lay on the floor, screaming in pain as she clutched her horribly misshapen leg. Seeing her in so much agony made Gold freeze, and the experiment took over. By the time he realized what was happening, his left hand was choking Crystal. Her cries have died out but now she was struggling to breathe. Tears from her eyes fell onto Gold’s hand, and it made him want to cry as well. But apparently he couldn’t do that either. Gold struggled in his efforts to loosen the grip over Crystal’s throat. He was losing in the fight, and he could feel the pressure increasing slightly. Before long, he would end up killing her…

‘ _Crys! I know you can’t hear me, but… I’m sorry. I have no choice… I hope you understand!_ ’

Before he lost control, he threw Crystal through the window… Since the target was out of its sight range, the experiment stopped trying to control Gold, and he could finally focus on something other than stopping himself from killing Crystal. He approached the smashed window and looked down. If he threw her far enough, then she would’ve hit the lake that covered a big portion of Violet City. If not, then she would’ve hit the forest and it was possible that she did not survive the fall. … But the lake remained perfectly calm and serene in the moonlight. Crystal had not fallen into the lake…


	7. Surprise Day - GC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was first uploaded on May 19, 2011

**Primary: Gold & Crystal.**

Surprise Day:

“Silver, where are you?”

“Johto. Why?”

“Could you go spy on Gold for me?”

“… Why?”

“Because his birthday is in 3 days and I want to make sure that he doesn’t know what I’m getting him!”

“His birthday’s in 3 days? … Eh, whatever.”

“So will you spy on him?”

“Why exactly do you need to get him a gift without him knowing?”

“Because I want to surprise him! I… owe him one for my birthday…”

“… Crys, the guy’s an idiot. He’ll be surprised with anything.”

“Silver, please. I want to make it a special event… just him and… me.”

“… I did not need to hear that… Sorry, Crys. You’re on your own.”

“Silver, Silver! … Darn…”

…

July 21, 6 am…

…

Crystal gently landed in front of Gold’s big fancy house (or as Silver would call it, big freaking house or occasionally big f*cking house) and took a deep, shuddering breath. She had no clue whether Gold was expecting anything, thanks to someone’s lack of cooperation. Only thing she could do was hope that what she planned was going to be a surprise. She reached into her bag and withdrew a notepad that consisted of her plan with Gold for the day.

1st phase…

Crystal looked around to make sure that no one was looking. Once she was satisfied that she was all alone, she got her Tupeon to use Psychic to unlock the door from the inside. Once the door opened, she noticed Gold’s Explotaro sleeping right behind the door. The Typhlosion woke up and realizing that the door had opened, prepared to use Blast Burn to remove the intruder. But it recognized Crystal, and although it was confused why she would break into its trainer’s house, stepped aside and let her through. She put a finger to her lips, telling the Typhlosion to remain silent. She then proceeded to head towards the stairs. If she remembered correctly, Gold had moved his bedroom to the 3rd floor for whatever reason.

After silently making her way to Gold’s bedroom, she peeked inside. Suiting his nickname of Pokémon Boy, Gold was asleep in the room with all of his Pokémon asleep scattered around the room. The Pokémon woke up and noticing an intruder, prepared to attack.

Crystal opened the door and tried to calm everyone down, but they only did so after Gold’s Aitaro recognized Crystal and told the others to calm. The girl sighed and made a note to herself to never sneak into Gold’s house too early in the morning.

She approached Gold, who was snoring really loudly, and shook his arm.

“Hey, Gold, wake up!”

But the sleeping boy didn’t wake up. Instead, he tossed and turned, accidentally striking Crystal in the face with his other hand.

“Ow! … This isn’t going according to plan…” Crystal muttered. She rubbed her sore cheek and looked into a mirror. Her cheek was starting to turn red. Grumbling, she approached Gold once more and sighed. “GOLD, WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!” she yelled, making every Pokémon in the room jump in surprise.

Gold, who was facing Crystal’s direction with half of his upper body almost off the bed, also jumped in surprise. He tried to sit up and because of his precarious positioning, fell of the bed… and right onto Crystal. The girl yelped as Gold knocked her down to the floor.

“Hey, what the hell?” the boy yelled. He scrambled off of Crystal and backed away. “Super Serious Gal? What the hell are you doing here?”

‘ _Ungh… this is **really** not going according to plan…_’ “G – Good morning, Gold, and happy birthday!” Crystal said with a fake smile.

“Sh*t, you almost gave me a heart-attack! Is that your idea of a birthday gift? Or was it payback for what I did in Snowpoint?”

“No, no, I was just trying to wake you up,” Crystal explained. “You’re the one who slept like a rock! If you woke up when I shook you, none of this would’ve happened!”

“How’d you get in here anyways?”

“I just… listen, that’s not important. Just brush your teeth, freshen up, and get ready for the day. I’m buying you breakfast today.”

“Sheesh, Super Serious Gal. You could’ve just called me instead of sneaking in. What are you, one of the kidnapped duo? Sheesh.”

Crystal waited outside the room and sighed. 1st phase failed horribly. She rubbed her sore cheek and seriously hoped that the other parts of the schedule would go smoothly.

2nd phase…

Crystal looked at her notepad. She was going to buy Gold breakfast, but not in New Bark Town. There were _w_ _ay_ too many random girls who knew Gold… To avoid running into states of _jealousy_ in this special day, Crystal chose to get breakfast in Violet City. The problem with this part of the plan is that… Gold would be complaining a _lot_ during the half hour flight to Violet City.

Within a few minutes, Gold came out, fully dressed in his regular attire. He yawned and stretched his tired limbs.

“What now?” he asked.

“Well, let’s go eat breakfast in Violet City,” Crystal replied.

“Why in your hometown? Why not mine?”

Crystal instantly thought of an excuse. “You’ve probably been eating at restaurants in New Bark just about all your life. I think it would be a nice change for you to eat in Violet City, don’t you think?”

“Fine.”

Crystal grabbed him by his wrist and dragged him downstairs towards the front door. Gold’s mother saw her son being dragged out of the house by a girl who she never saw entering in the first place, and looked at the doorway for a second before she resumed focusing on her own breakfast.

30 minutes later, Gold and Crystal arrived in Violet City. Gold looked freshened up from the flight; Crystal did not. She blew a strand of hair away from her eyes. That flight was rather rough. The wind was strong enough to mess her tidy hair, and Gold’s whining during the flight partially depleted her patience.

But sensing her change in mood, Gold had stopped complaining. He silently followed her as she took him to a restaurant. But before Crystal pointed at the restaurant she picked, Gold ran towards a better looking restaurant, which was also a lot more expensive. Crystal sighed and followed.

Inside the high quality restaurant that Gold picked, he took a seat on a small table for two. Crystal sat down and looked through the menu (and noticing the prices). Much to her surprise and horror, Gold selected 4 separate courses.

‘ _I don’t have enough money for all those… Even if I eat absolutely nothing, I can only pay for one course… But… it’s his birthday! I can’t limit his options… I can’t make him pay either…_ ’ Crystal stifled the urge to tell Gold to pick just _one_ course. Instead, she let him order all he wanted, and she didn’t order anything for herself. There was no need to make the debt even larger.

The moment the food arrived, Gold dug into it at light speed while Crystal watched. She was so hungry… and watching her friend eat like a Snorlax didn’t help either. She grumbled to herself that Gold probably didn’t even notice what was wrong.

But he did. When the fourth course arrived, Gold claimed that he was full and gave the food to Crystal. The girl knew that the goggled boy was nowhere near full, but accepted his offer. It wasn’t common for him to sacrifice anything.

Once Crystal finished eating, she headed towards the cashier to pay the bill. Gold followed. She pushed him out of the restaurant so that she may deal with the embarrassing situation by herself. She took the bill and noticed that the price of the meal was over 5 times the money she had…

“H – Hey, listen,” she whispered, signaling the clerk to come closer. “I don’t have enough money to pay for this, but… I live in this city. Can I buy on credit? I’ll pay back within this week…”

The clerk shook his head. “I’m sorry, ma’am. No can do.”

“Please, I’m beg-”

“Hey, Super Serious Gal, what’s taking so long?” Gold asked as he walked up to her.

“N – Nothing,” Crystal quickly lied. “I… um… you should wait outside!”

Gold grinned; he knew what was going on. He quickly dug into Crystal’s bag and found her wallet, much to the girl’s horror. He took note of how much money she had, and then snatched the bill away from her.

“Yikes…” he muttered, noticing the huge gap. ‘ _She has 3000 PKD, and our meal cost 16_ _000…_ ’ “Hey, your food is too damn expensive!” he said to the clerk. “For a price this high, I expected some _quality_ food! The food wasn’t even all that great! You’re ripping us off!”

“I’m… sorry, sir, but I am not responsible for the prices.”

Gold glared at the clerk for a second before he changed his expression. “Fair enough.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew two 10 000 PKD bills. He winked at Crystal and gave the bills to the clerk. “Keep the change. Let’s go, Crys.”

Crystal looked surprised for a few seconds before she ran after Gold. “H – Hey, wait!”

“What?”

“Why did you do that?”

“Well, if I didn’t, then you would’ve had to either beg for a _long_ while, or work the debt off. I can’t see you begging for something like this, and you already have enough stuff to worry about to get another job.”

Crystal smiled and hugged him. “Thank you, Gold.”

“You know, you could’ve just told me that you didn’t have enough money. I wouldn’t have ordered all that.”

“It’s your birthday, Gold. I didn’t want to limit your options.”

Gold laughed. “Fair enough. So, I saw those tickets in your wallet. I assume we’re going to the movies now?”

Crystal nodded. “Yes. I picked the movies that I know you’d like: the ones that I hate. And Gold, don’t look through my bag. Don’t you know any better?”

Gold started to walk, and replied in the tone that he knew would irritate Crystal. “Yes, ma’am, I won’t do it again.” He turned to face her and grinned. “Oh, and you owe me by the way. Seeing it’s my birthday, you owe me double.”

Crystal’s face became pale for a second. ‘ _40 000 PKD?_ ’ “… Let’s discuss that later… tomorrow, maybe.” ‘ _I’m not going to argue with you on your birthday. But the **moment** the date changes…_ ’

3rd phase…

Crystal groaned as she kept her eyes shut. She knew she wasn’t going to like the movie… it was way too gruesome for her taste. And now, to prevent tainting her mind, she chose to cover her eyes.

“Hey, Super Serious Gal, aren’t you going to watch?” Gold asked from beside.

“Of course not. Just tell me when the violence is over,” Crystal muttered.

“Okay, it’s over,” Gold said a minute later.

Crystal looked at the screen just as a man got his head blown off by a shotgun. She quickly shut her eyes again and groaned.

‘ _Like I didn’t see that one coming… Why did I trust him?_ ’ “You’re a jerk, you know that?”

Gold was trying not to laugh. “Sorry, Crys, I just _didn’t see that coming_!”

“Thanks to you, that image will be stuck in my head forever…”

“Well then, it’s a good thing that you didn’t see the scene where a guy gets his arms and legs cut off by a-”

Crystal put her hands over her ears and kept her eyes shut. “I don’t want to know!”

Gold grinned. After waiting a few seconds, he yanked Crystal’s hand off and whispered in her ear. “Scizor.”

“I didn’t want to know, you jerk!”

“Look, there it is!”

Crystal looked at the screen for a split second before she shut her eyes again. She saw a golden Scizor, covered in blood, smash a person’s head with Bullet Punch. Crystal checked her watch. 55 minutes to go…

…

An hour later…

…

Crystal staggered out of the Violet City theatre. She fell for more of Gold’s tricks and ended up seeing more of the movie than she was comfortable with. Why does she keep believing him? She sat in the shadow of a tree and sighed. She brushed strands of hair out of her eyes and groaned. Why did Gold’s birthday have to end up so tiring?

Gold sat beside her. “I’m starving here, Crys,” he complained.

Crystal reached into her bag and tossed him a plastic bag. Gold caught it and looked inside. Apparently Crystal had made some sandwiches… that tasted like paper. He immediately regretted his decision to eat half of the sandwich in a single bite. He was about to complain when he noticed that the girl seemed to be experiencing a headache.

“How are they?” she asked. She kept her eyes shut and tried her best to forget those bloody scenes from the movie. When Gold didn’t reply immediately, she sighed. “Not good, huh?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Sorry Gold. I tried.”

The goggled boy put his sandwich down and put an arm around Crystal. “Relax. You did great. You’re trying too hard.” He forcefully swallowed the paper tasting stuff in his mouth and kissed her in the cheek. “Thanks for today.”

“I owed you for my birthday. I heard that it was you who planned the whole thing.”

“And so it was,” Gold said. Noticing that Crystal still had her eyes closed, he took the half-eaten sandwich and tossed it to the nearest garbage can. He grinned when the sandwich successfully went inside the garbage can without creating any mess. “So, now what?”

Crystal sighed. “Well, I was going to take you to the lake, but…”

“I think I’m a little tired, Crys,” Gold said. “I think you are too. Why don’t we just stay here and relax?”

“That sounds good.” Crystal leaned against him and sighed. “Did I surprise you with this though?”

“Well, even without that near heart attack you gave me earlier today, yes. I’m surprised that you were willing to put up with me all day long.”

“This is a _special event_. I wouldn’t put up with you all day long every day.”

* * *

**Special Adventures Preview #2:**

* * *

Sapphire peeked through a bush into Violet City. So far, no one was in sight. Since the city was abandoned, the only people she expected to find were bad guys. No civilians would have remained.

According to what Professor Elm told her team, the bad guys were hiding something near the lake, and Red had dispatched her to see what it was. Depending on what was hidden, Sapphire was ordered to destroy it, leave it, or call for help.

Sapphire ran from the bush and climbed onto a tree. Remaining hidden behind the thick leaves, she looked towards the lake. She could see a group of 6 people doing something.

‘ _Hmm… how strange,_ ’ she thought. ‘ _They don’t look like they’re hiding anything… They seem like they’re… waiting…_ ’ She gasped upon realizing something. ‘ _It’s a trap!_ ’ Just then, something hit the tree and Sapphire jumped off. ‘ _Forget stealth! Assault!_ ’

“There she is!” came a voice from the lakeside.

Sapphire pitched her Blaziken’s Pokéball at the nearest bad guy as hard as she could. The ball hit him right in the face and knocked him unconscious as the Blaziken came out of the ball in midair.

“Blast Burn!”

The Blaziken thrust its arms forward, shooting powerful flames from its wrists. Sapphire quickly ducked to avoid an attack from behind. Noticing the attack to be Sludge Bomb, she sent out her Aggron and hid behind it.

“Iron Defense,” she ordered.

The immunity to Poison-type moves served well and Sapphire intended to use the time to heighten her Aggron’s defense. Once the smoke from the attack cleared, she peaked around her Aggron. She noticed that apart from the 6 at the lakeside, there were 3 more bad guys who seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Sapphire pondered whether she should call her teammates for help, but seeing how the bad guys were only sending out the evil-team-standard-issue Pokémon such as Zubat and Rattata, decided not to. She snapped out of her thoughts when one grunt made a blind charge at her. While Blaziken punched the grunt’s Golbat out of the air, Sapphire slugged him in the face with full power.

“Boss, we’re going to lose if you don’t intervene!” one of the grunts yelled.

‘ _There’s a boss?_ ’ Sapphire thought to herself.

She noticed a shadow of a Pokémon suddenly fly past her. She turned to prepare for another enemy, but upon seeing the Pokémon, gasped in shock and started to tremble. She was looking at her worst nightmare… Salamence. Scenes from that dreaded event many years ago started to flash across her mind. Getting attacked by a Salamence, watching Ruby fight it, watching him get hit by a Dragon Claw in the process…

Sapphire tried to focus on the ensuing battle but couldn’t. When the Salamence roared, she gasped and trembled backwards. The Dragon-type Pokémon charged at her with Dragon Claw, and instead of swiftly jumping out of the way, she simply dropped to the ground, using her arms to protect her head. Suddenly, she heard a loud thud and felt the ground shake. She looked up and saw the Salamence look straight at her. She backed away at the intimidating glare…

“ _Look, I’ve chased away the Salamence!”_

“… _Scary… so scary…”_

‘ _Scary…_ ’ Sapphire looked up at the Salamence. She remembered her vow after the first Salamence event. ‘ _I must get stronger… I must learn to protect myself and the others…_ ’ She clenched her hands into fists as determination ran through her veins. ‘ _Yes, I can beat this. I can win…_ ’ “Chamo, Blast Burn!” she yelled out as she rolled away from the Salamence.

“Hydro Cannon.”

Sapphire jumped in surprise as her Blast Burn was neutralized by the Hydro Cannon. There were only 4 people who knew Hydro Cannon, and all of them were on her side… She looked at where the Hydro Cannon came from. She could see… Swampert…

“Zuzu?” she muttered in disbelief. She quickly looked left and right and suddenly froze. The boss of the enemy grunts, standing near the grunts, wearing an ice mask, was… “Ruby?”

Ruby pointed past her. Sapphire turned around just to see the Salamence swing its tail at her head with Iron Tail…


	8. Rescue - DPt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was first uploaded on July 12, 2011.
> 
> And as a note, this is chapter 22 in FF.net's SE. So... a lot of chapters were cut in the transition.

**Primary: Diamond & Platinum.**

Rescue:

Sandgem Town, Sinnoh…

Pearl and Diamond quickly walked towards the Berlitz Mansion.

“Hey Dia, did you see Miss Lady recently?” Pearl asked.

“No,” Diamond replied. “We were supposed to go berry picking yesterday, but she never showed. I called but she never answered.” He suddenly looked depressed. “Pearl, do you think-”

“No, Dia. I don’t think she’s avoiding you. Come on. She’s our friend.”

“I guess…”

“But hey, do you know why her father wants us?”

“I don’t know. But it must be really important.”

By the time the two Dex Holders arrived at the mansion, Sir Berlitz was waiting for them.

“Hello,” Diamond started. “Wh-”

“There is no time!” Sir Berlitz said, almost yelling. “Come, quickly!” Before Diamond and Pearl could do anything, he turned and ran back inside the mansion.

Diamond and Pearl glanced at each other before quickly following. In one of the rooms, there was a big television, and Sebastian was waiting.

“As your orders, I did not inform anyone else about this,” the butler said to Sir Berlitz.

“What’s this about?” Pearl asked.

Sir Berlitz pointed at the television screen. Diamond and Pearl looked, and froze upon seeing what was being played. It was a recorded video message for a ransom…

In the screen, they could see Platinum tied up on a chair, looking rather beaten. One kidnapper appeared on screen and looked at the camera.

“You have 2 hours to deliver a sum of 50 billion PKD to the location on the letter that came with the video. And if you even _think_ about calling the police… I’ll leave what’s left of your daughter in front of your mansion.” The kidnapper grabbed the heiress by her hair and yanked. Platinum groaned but refused to say anything. “Let’s see what your daughter has to say about this.” The kidnapper punched the heiress in the stomach and yanked her hair so the camera could see her face. “Come on, say “daddy, help me” or something like that.”

“Ungh… father…” Platinum gasped out. “You must not give in, father! I will be a-”

The kidnapper smacked her across the face. “I warned you what would happen if you said that again!”

“Should I shut this thing off?” came a second voice.

“No. Fuck it. We’re going to send him this video. Maybe seeing his daughter getting beaten will help him make a decision.” The kidnapper smacked Platinum across the face once more.

“Agh! … F – Father! Please…” she gasped out. “Please… do not give in…”

Diamond felt each of Platinum’s yelps and cries stab at his heart. He closed his eyes as the kidnapper became more aggressive in his attempts to shut her up. Sir Berlitz shut off the television.

“I am going to prepare the money for delivery,” he started. “But I want you two to find and rescue my daughter before it is too late. I doubt that these vandals will release my daughter even if I give them the money.”

Diamond and Pearl nodded.

‘ _I should’ve stayed with her…_ ’ Diamond thought. ‘ _I shouldn’t have asked her to go berry picking with me. Maybe then she would’ve been safe…_ ’

“I think I know how we can find her,” Pearl started. “But we’ll need Pokémon that can Fly.”

An hour later, Jubilife City…

Diamond and Pearl flew around the edge of the park, waiting for the kidnappers to pick up the briefcase containing the money, which was placed in the marked zone a minute ago. For this task, they borrowed a pair of Pidgeots from the Berlitz family. The plan was to wait for the kidnappers to take the money and then to follow the kidnappers to their hideout. Then, the two Dex Holders will be able to rescue Platinum.

Pearl squinted as he saw a man walk towards the bench with the briefcase. The man picked up the briefcase and started to walk away. Diamond and Pearl carefully eyed him. They could see that the kidnapper had entered a van, and from a safe altitude, followed.

3 hours later, the van stopped in front of a small building; a house, from the looks of it.

Diamond took a brief look around the area. He noticed that he was in Veilstone City. A minute after the kidnapper entered the building, the two Dex Holders landed. They left the two Pidgeots in the air to see if the kidnapper would escape.

“Okay, this is what we’re going to do,” Pearl started. “Dia, you’re going to look for Miss Lady while I’ll cover you. When you find her, call Maylene and let her know what happened. We could use some help.”

Diamond nodded and tried to open the door. Seeing how it was locked, Pearl sent out his Infernape to silently melt the door. And to ensure that the house itself didn’t catch on fire, he had his Buizel to put the fire out once the door was gone.

Diamond silently entered the house, with his Munchlax in front. The Munchlax remembered the scent of Platinum’s perfume very well, and with that in mind, sniffed around. Within a minute, the Munchlax found the trail of the perfume. Diamond followed as his Munchlax led him towards a door. The Sinnoh boy put his ear against the door to see if he can hear anything. He heard nothing, so he assumed it was safe to open the door.

The room was bright enough for him to see everything inside. He could see someone tied up in the corner. Diamond squinted, and recognized the person as Platinum. He quickly ran towards her and began to untie the rope binding her arms and legs. The heiress seemed to be unconscious, and had been blindfolded and gagged. By the time he finished untying her arms and legs, Platinum woke up. She couldn’t see, so she assumed the worst and tried to push him away. Diamond noticed that she was whimpering… She never did that before…

“Lady, it’s me,” he said quietly. Platinum instantly froze, and Diamond took the opportunity to remove the blindfold. “I came to rescue you.” He could see the tears in the heiress’s beautiful eyes and it made him freeze for a second. He soon snapped out and removed the gag.

The heiress remained perfectly silent for a whole 7 seconds before she snapped out of her shock. “… You found me…”

Diamond embraced her as she broke down into tears. “It’s okay, Lady. You’re safe now.”

“They h – hurt me so much,” the heiress sobbed out.

Diamond pulled back and looked at her. He could see that her pale skin was covered in bruises. When he looked at her clothes, his eyes opened wide in shock. The heiress’s black vest was missing, and the dress underneath wasn’t exactly intact either.

“D – Did they…” Diamond stuttered, unable to finish the question. He looked horrified.

Thankfully, Platinum shook her head. “B – But they tried…” She buried her face into his chest and cried some more. “I – It was terrible…”

Diamond put his arms around her and tried to calm her down. “It’s over now. Come on. Let’s get you out of here.” He took off his vest and gave it to her to wear. Afterwards, he called Maylene and told her of the current situation, and asked for help.

“Hey, what the hell?” came a voice from behind. The heiress gasped and tried her best to hide behind Diamond. The Sinnoh boy turned around and saw one of the kidnappers. “Hey, we have an intruder!” he yelled out through the door.

The other kidnapper walked into the room, with his hands in the air. Behind him, Pearl had his Infernape out, ready to burn anything that tried to run.

“Yes, I noticed,” the kidnapper grumbled.

The first kidnapper turned to face Diamond, only to realize that the Sinnoh boy had his Torterra out.

“Let me show you what happens if you move,” he said. “Roo, Dia’s Mach-One-And-Only Razor Leaf.”

The kidnapper blinked. “Well, that’s a long name… Where are the leaves?”

“Look behind you,” Diamond said.

The kidnapper turned and saw a hole in the wall, where the single leaf had hit. “Oh… sh*t.”

Pearl grinned and had his Infernape drag both kidnappers out of the house. Diamond returned his Pokémon and helped Platinum get to her feet. He noticed that the heiress was favoring her right knee, and looked unsteady. He supported her from beside and took extra care to make sure that she was comfortable.

“Thank you…” Platinum said quietly as she rested her head against Diamond’s. “I trusted that you would come for me…”

As Diamond slowly headed towards the exit, a thought occurred and he ended up stopping abruptly.

“Diamond, what is the matter?” the heiress asked.

“Those two kidnappers,” he muttered. “Neither of them are the one that I saw in the video…”

Suddenly, he felt someone yank Platinum off of him, and he spun around. He could see that the missing kidnapper had appeared and now had Platinum hostage.

“So you’re the one who fucked everything up,” the kidnapper growled out. He had an arm wrapped around Platinum’s throat, and Diamond noticed that the heiress looked absolutely terrified. “Don’t move.”

Diamond did as told. Not only because the girl he loved was being held hostage, but also because he could see Maylene and her Riolu sneaking up from behind the kidnapper. The Veilstone Gym Leader arrived at the kidnappers’ house (as Diamond described, “the house with Pidgeots circling around”), and she chose to climb through the windows in hopes of sneaking up on any kidnappers.

Within a blink of an eye, the kidnapper was knocked out from a Mach Punch, and Diamond rushed to catch Platinum before she hit the ground. The heiress started to cry again, as the shock from being held hostage was overwhelming. Diamond gently embraced her and rubbed her in the back to calm her down.

“It’s okay, Lady. You’re okay now. Maylene’s here. We won’t let those kidnappers harm you anymore,” he assured.

“I – I wish I was home,” the heiress sobbed out. “Please… please take me home…”

Diamond nodded and quickly led her out of the house. Platinum tried her best to calm down. Outside, Pearl ran up to his two friends, after handing the two captured kidnappers to the police.

“Miss Lady, you’re okay!” he yelled.

Platinum wiped away her tears and clasped his hands but didn’t give him a hug, which Diamond noticed.

“Thank you, Pearl,” she said. Her voice was still shaking.

“Hey Pearl, the Lady wants to go home,” Diamond said.

“Right. Dia, take her home. I’m going to go back inside that house and see if I can find her stuff and that money briefcase.”

Diamond called one of the Pidgeots and climbed on top after helping the heiress get on. “Lady, please hold on tight.”

Platinum nodded and wrapped her arms around Diamond. “I am ready.”

Diamond got the Pidgeot to Fly back to Sandgem Town. But because he was afraid that Platinum would fall off, he got the Pidgeot to Fly slowly, so instead of taking an hour (full speed), the two Dex Holders arrived in front of the Berlitz Mansion in two hours.

Diamond quickly led Platinum back inside her mansion, where she reunited with her father. The Sinnoh boy explained to Sir Berlitz and Sebastian what happened and how he and Pearl managed to rescue Platinum. After the story, Sir Berlitz promised a very large feast for those who helped in rescuing his daughter, which Diamond told Pearl and Maylene via Pokégear.

One week later, Diamond came to the mansion to visit Platinum. He was led by the servants of the Berlitz Mansion to Platinum’s reading room. Upon arriving, he knocked on the door. The door opened a few seconds later, and Platinum appeared in the doorway.

“Ah, Diamond!” she exclaimed happily. “I am glad you came. Please, come in.”

“Thanks, Lady,” Diamond said as he entered the room. He noticed that the bruises that covered Platinum’s pale skin have healed. But not all injuries have healed, however… “Lady, would you like to go berry picking today?” Diamond asked.

Platinum suddenly appeared nervous. “Berry picking? … Outside? … Um… I… I appreciate the offer, Diamond, but…”

Diamond nodded. He understood that the heiress would prefer to stay in the safety of her mansion. The kidnapping had been a terrifying experience for her, and seeing how she was attacked on her way from her mansion to where she was supposed to meet Diamond, it was natural that the heiress would be afraid of the outside world.

“I understand if you don’t want to leave your mansion, Lady. In that case… would you mind if I stayed with you?”

Platinum appeared surprised, but smiled brightly and nodded. “Of course, Diamond. I would highly appreciate your company.”

She led him towards the couch and sat there with him. She slightly leaned against him and began to talk about her experiences this week. As she talked, Diamond noticed that she looked extremely happy. He gently grabbed and rubbed her hand. Although the heiress may be afraid of the outside world, for now, he would remain happy that she was perfectly safe and happy. Diamond took it upon himself to help her overcome her fears when the time came. But for the time being, he would focus on ensuring that Platinum felt safe and protected. Besides, spending just about the entire day with her in the mansion wasn’t bad either.


	9. Capturing Dinner - GC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was first uploaded on August 2, 2011.

**Primary: Gold & Crystal.**

Capturing Dinner:

Route 1, Kanto…

Crystal nervously stood in front of the other 12 Dex Holders, not sure how to proceed. Platinum had asked her to teach her (and the other two Sinnoh Dex Holders) how to catch Pokémon. Then Professor Oak suggested that _all of the others_ join in on the lessons as well. As a result, Crystal had to teach her seniors how to catch Pokémon when she had no doubt that they were perfectly fine on their own.

With a nervous gulp, Crystal taped targets onto trees. She was going to test the aim of every Dex Holder and maybe she’ll get ideas on how to proceed from there.

First up, Red gave a decent throw which hit the target dead on. Green simply tossed the Pokéball backwards at a target and also hit it right in the middle. Blue did the same as Red. Crystal groaned. As expected, the three Kanto Dex Holders needed no assistance. They all looked bored… When Yellow gave a throw, Crystal noticed that she had missed the target.

‘ _Good… Now I can at least help with **something** ,_’ Crystal thought to herself. Then again, Yellow never really cared about Pokémon capturing to begin with. Crystal imagined that Yellow would just befriend a Pokémon she wanted to the point where the Pokémon willingly captured itself.

Next, Gold gave a Pokéball a throw. He hit the target, but near the edge.

“Well… I’m still a little rusty on the throwing department,” he said.

He pulled out his billiard cue, and with another Pokéball, took aim. He glanced around, looking for potential ricochet points. Being the show-off, he didn’t aim at the target. He aimed at another tree farther away and took the shot. The ball shot towards the tree, bounced off a thick branch, bounced off another branch, and hit the roots of another tree. The ball then hit a rock before hitting the target in the center.

Platinum and a few of the other Dex Holders clapped at the feat. Gold grinned and bowed to them like the showman that he was. Crystal shook her head.

Next, Silver gave a boring yet time-efficient throw at the target. Having hit the center, he turned away to let the others take a shot. Ruby gave a careless toss. Sapphire pitched a Pokéball with all her strength, cracking the target tree in the process.

“… Don’t throw too hard,” Crystal said. “I mean… you don’t want to throw that hard when you’re trying to catch a Pokémon, do you?”

Sapphire rubbed the back of her neck with a laugh. “Oops… well… I guess not.”

Next, Emerald gave the Pokéball a kick, just like he learned from Crystal. The ball hit the target in the center, but his Platform Shoe came off during the kick.

“Ah, stupid-ass things!” he yelled as he tracked the object flying through the air. Gold and Sapphire laughed from behind and Crystal smiled. “Freaking shoe store guy…” He stretched his Magic Hand Extensors to maximum length and hopped towards the Platform Shoe.

Next up, the Sinnoh trio gave their tries. Crystal noted that the three needed the most help. Platinum’s throw lacked power, Pearl’s lacked accuracy, and Diamond’s lacked both. The heiress looked at her senior with an ashamed look at having barely hit the target.

“Don’t feel too bad,” Crystal said. “Um… try different methods of capturing,” she suggested after a moment of thought. She received confused looks from her juniors. “What I mean is… … Ah, I’ll just show you.”

Crystal tossed a Pokéball into the air and delivered a jumping kick, sending the Pokéball flying towards the target. The Sinnoh trio clapped and marveled at the shot. Crystal approached the non-Sinnoh Dex Holders.

“Why don’t you all practice hitting multiple targets? Sometimes, you’re in a situation where you have to catch a lot more than one Pokémon at a time,” she suggested. She pointed at a roughly circular opening in the forest, where the surrounding trees had targets taped onto them.

The non-Sinnoh Dex Holders shrugged and went over to the circular clearing. The Kanto Dex Holders decided to help the Hoenn Dex Holders better control the ultimate moves instead of ‘practicing’ Pokémon capture.

Crystal then went over to the Sinnoh Dex Holders so that she could teach them how to properly throw/kick Pokéballs into targets.

A few minutes later, Gold left the target-circle and watched Crystal from behind, wondering when the whole teaching stuff was going to end. He watched with amusement as Pearl attempted a Pokéball kick and ended up kicking the ball into Crystal’s face.

Bored again, the goggled boy sat down on the grass and tried to balance a Pokéball on the tip of his billiard cue. A few minutes later, Crystal began teaching the Sinnoh trio about catching multiple Pokémon at a time. As a demonstration, she placed around 10 Pokéballs in a circle around her and with a low sweep, kicked all of them into targets set up around.

Gold wondered how many Pokéballs Crystal could kick in a circle like that. His pondering was cut short as he watched as Platinum attempted to do that maneuver. Unfortunately for him, he was a little too far away for a good view. Had he been closer, he could’ve seen her (around her skirt, to be a little more specific) a little better. Then again, if he was close enough, Crystal would’ve kicked his ass for trying to enjoy the view. With a sigh, Gold resumed his focus on trying to balance a Pokéball on the tip of his billiard cue.

After half an hour, Crystal sat beside him. She told the Sinnoh trio to go and practice so that she could rest a little.

“Bored, huh?” she asked after a sigh.

“Yep. Along with all the others,” Gold replied. “Right now, our seniors are trying to help the Hoenn guys to properly control the ultimate moves.”

“Well… at least that’s a little more exciting than this,” Crystal muttered.

“Hey Crys, do you want to bet on something? You know, help pass the time,” Gold suggested.

Crystal looked at him. “Bet on what, and what kind of bet?” she asked.

Gold thought for a few seconds. “How about… how long we can keep a Pokéball off the ground without using our hands. You know, keep it bouncing in the air.”

“Why bother? You know I’m going to win,” Crystal said with a smile.

Gold’s eye twitched. “… Yeah. If you win, I’ll buy you dinner. If I win, then _you_ buy me dinner. How’s that?”

“That sounds like something Blue would say to Green,” Crystal said.

“Well… it’s a little different,” Gold said. “I mean, most of the time, all bets made between them are buying senior Blue dinner vs. leaving senior Green alone.”

“I guess that’s different. So you’re basically trying to ask me on a dinner date,” Crystal said.

“More or less,” Gold replied. “Well?”

Crystal smirked. “If that’s how you intend on getting girls to go out with you, then you might need lessons. I mean, how many girls would fall for the ‘let’s make a dinner-bet because we’re bored’ line?”

Gold grinned. “Let’s find out, Crys.” He took out his Pokégear and pretended to cycle through a bunch of numbers. “If you don’t want to take the offer, then I’ll just have to find someone else…” As expected, Crystal seemed to be on alert now. “Let’s see… nah, this one’s ugly compared to the others… this one’s too dumb… this one’s too damn freaky…” Gold pretended to search through a massive list. “Ah, here we go. The prettiest of them all!”

Crystal snatched the Pokégear away from him. “All right, fine! I’ll take the offer!”

“I thought you would. You should take my offers as soon as you can, Crys,” Gold said with a grin. “After all, I know over 50 girls in New Bark Town alone who would just _die_ for a chance to have dinner with me.”

Crystal scowled at him as she tossed the Pokégear into the goggled boy’s face. “But what guarantees do I have that you won’t run away and leave me to pay for everything?”

“Assuming you win? Well… come on, Crys. When did I ever do that?”

“Last week, maybe?” Crystal said, crossing her arms. “Going to the washroom, huh?” Gold rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. “And a few weeks before that. You conveniently _forgot_ your wallet…”

“I… uh…”

“What guarantee do I have that you won’t be dragged away by a _friend_ of yours and make me pay for everything?”

“Okay, fine. If I ditch you and make you pay for the dinner again, then you can kick me as hard as you can the next time you see me,” Gold said. “But… not down there.”

“And how do I know that you won’t leave the region?”

“Look, Crys, I only ditched you five times,” Gold said with a frustrated sigh. “And we had dinner dates around 20 times now. Can’t you trust me?”

Crystal sighed. “Sorry, Gold. I guess I should trust you this time.” She took the Pokéball that was resting on the tip of Gold’s billiard cue and tossed it into the air. “Keeping the ball bouncing without it touching the ground, huh?”

Gold tried first. With his billiard cue, he kept the Pokéball in the air for some 10 seconds before he purposely let the ball hit the ground. Crystal received the Pokéball next, and kicked it into the air. She wondered why Gold purposely let it hit the ground. Perhaps he just wanted to buy her dinner? Or could it be that he was planning on ditching her again?

7 seconds later, as Crystal tracked the descending Pokéball, Platinum’s excited shout disrupted her focus. Crystal glanced back to see what the commotion was about (the heiress had successfully kicked 4 Pokéballs into 4 targets in a circle around her), and in the split-second it took her to remember the ongoing bet, the ball hit the ground.

“Well, that’s that, then,” Gold said from beside. “You’re going to buy me dinner today. I was really going to buy you dinner, but seeing how you lost the bet…”

To his surprise, Crystal smiled. “A loss is a loss. It’s 4 pm right now, so I’ll see you in front of my house in 3 hours, all right? I’m just going to finish helping the Sinnoh trio before I go home and get ready.”

Gold found it odd that Crystal wasn’t upset at all. He found it very odd that she was _cheerful_ about it. He suspected something, but quickly dismissed the thought. Crystal _never_ tricked anyone, ever.

…

3 hours later, Violet City…

…

Gold waited outside Crystal’s house, wondering how he could take advantage of the current situation. Since Crystal was going to buy him dinner, perhaps he would order a lot of food. Or simply go to a really expensive restaurant…

But to his surprise, when Crystal came out a few minutes later, she took him to the most expensive restaurant in the city. Thinking that she was basically digging her own grave, Gold ordered as much as he could… 6 courses. Crystal too, ordered two separate courses.

Crystal calculated the cost of the dinner in her head. She estimated that the dinner would cost around 40 000 PKD. She tried her best to keep a straight face as she ate. She didn’t want Gold to suspect her of anything…

An hour later, when Gold finished eating (Crystal finished half an hour ago), Crystal made her move. While trying to move the empty dishes into a stack (so the waiters could move them easily), she ‘accidentally’ hit her cup and poured water on herself.

“Oh, darn,” she muttered. “I’ll be right back, Gold. Don’t go anywhere,” she said as she rose to go to the washroom.

Crystal quickly headed towards the washroom, and when Gold wasn’t looking, headed to the exit instead. The cashier saw her trying to leave, and seeing Gold still sitting at the table, naturally assumed that he would be paying and let her leave.

Upon exiting the restaurant, Crystal sat on a nearby bench and waited. Around 20 minutes later, she heard exactly what she wanted to hear: Gold screaming from the restaurant.

“OH, THAT’S JUST CHILDISH, SUPER SERIOUS GAL!”

Crystal started to laugh as she slowly walked back home. “Sorry, Gold. But you know what they say about payback…”

* * *

What Could Have Been:

Gold pretended to search through a massive list, and soon found Crystal’s number. “Ah, here we go. The prettiest of them all!”

Crystal snatched the Pokégear away from him, as she didn’t know who the goggled boy was referring to. But while she snatched the Pokégear, Gold had accidentally hit the ‘call’ button.

‘ _Oops… uh oh…_ ’ Gold thought, realizing what was going to happen. ‘ _This is going to be very awkward…_ ’

“All right, fine! I’ll take the offer!” Crystal yelled. To her surprise, her Pokégear started to ring. Confused, she reached into her bag and found her Pokégear, and noticed that it was Gold who was calling her. Then everything fell into place. “… You were referring to me?” she asked.

“Well… uh…”

Crystal started to laugh. “Wow… just wow. I never thought you would say _that_! Isn’t that a little too… mushy for you?”

“… Shut up…” Gold grumbled out. He desperately thought of a way out. “It was an accident, okay? I wasn’t trying to call you, I was trying to find someone else, and… I probably shouldn’t have said that…” he finished as he noticed the deadly glare Crystal was giving him.

Crystal scowled at him and tossed the Pokégear into his face. “I’ll ignore that part,” she said through clenched teeth. She took a deep breath and tried to change the topic. “Anyways, what guarantees do I have that you won’t run away and leave me to pay for everything?”


	10. The Set Up - RS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was first uploaded on August 10, 2011.
> 
> There is an unexpected complication with SE's update rate since SA has also gone live here in Ao3. Until the situation is resolved, SE's update rate will be significantly slower.

**Primary: Ruby & Sapphire.**

The Set Up:

New Bark Town, Johto…

Gold examined the pool table while Ruby prepared to take a shot. Behind Ruby was Sapphire, who watched with interest. Gold leaned against his indestructible billiard cue and wondered why exactly the bickering couple from Hoenn had decided to randomly invade his house.

Ruby took a shot, but didn’t hit the cue ball in the center, and could only groan as he watched the ball went off the intended course and fell pointlessly into the hole.

“Ruby, you suck!” Sapphire yelled from behind.

“Hey, it’s my first time!” Ruby yelled back.

Gold groaned as the two Hoenn Dex Holders started to bicker once more. ‘ _What the hell did I do to deserve this?_ ’ he wondered as he contemplated on knocking out both Hoenn Dex Holders with his billiard cue.

The goggled boy sighed and after placing the cue ball, prepared to take his own shot. He noticed that one carefully placed shot would allow him to win the game without surrendering a single point to Ruby. Gold reasoned that the faster he beat Ruby in the game, the faster he’d leave.

“ALL RIGHT, HERE WE ARE!” came a really loud voice from the outside.

Gold jumped in surprise and accidentally hit the cue ball in the process. He watched with horror as his shot completely missed and fell pointlessly in the hole in the corner.

“Hey, Sapphire, it’s that director!” Ruby said excitedly. “He’s finally here!”

“It’s about time!” Sapphire said as she ran towards the windows to see. The two Hoenn Dex Holders looked through the windows for a second before looking at each other. “Ruby, I think it’s time you tell Gold why we came.”

Ruby nodded and turned to look at Gold, who was contemplating on calling Crystal. Maybe the whole situation would be a little less miserable if Crystal was there to suffer with him… Noticing that the Hoenn Dex Holders were looking at him, the goggled boy snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Ruby.

“What?”

“Well, it’s time I told you why Sapphire and I came here.”

Gold listened as Ruby described his involvement with the movie that was being filmed outside. Back in Hoenn, he had been contacted by some filming company from Unova, and he was going to be in a movie. But during a recording session, Sapphire saw him from afar and a misunderstanding happened, so she ended up interrupting the session and ruining it completely. As a result, Ruby was “fired”, and the filming crew went to Johto instead.

“So… we came here, thinking that you could help us in ruining that movie set,” Ruby said, finishing his story. “I’d like my revenge.”

Gold grinned. “Well, you came to the right place, then.” He pointed upstairs with his billiard cue. “Come with me, and we’ll discuss on what to do.”

Ruby and Sapphire followed their senior as he led them to his bedroom. Gold opened the windows and looked out. He could see the movie production crew roughly 100 meters away from his house.

“Well, the first thing I’m going to do is…” Gold said, as he began to look around his room. Eventually, he found what he was looking for: a black box (size of a briefcase) with big orange letters that said “Li’l Bastard General Mischief Kit”.

Ruby and Sapphire exchanged looks. “They… actually make those?” they both muttered at the same time.

“I’ve had this box since I was 6,” Gold said with a smile. “Lots of fond memories…” He opened the box and withdrew a slingshot and something that looked like a black paintball. “Now, observe,” he said to his juniors.

The goggled boy approached the window and looked closely at the film crew with binoculars. Sapphire simply looked on and Ruby squinted, trying to get a good view. After examining the target, Gold passed the binoculars to Ruby, and with the slingshot and the black ‘paintball’, took aim.

The part of the movie that was being filmed at the moment happened to be a romance scene, with the lead actor and actress about to kiss. Naturally, Gold’s target would be the lead actor. With a grin, he aimed… directly at the lead actor’s butt. The black ‘paintball’, being a stink bomb, exploded upon impact, leaving a big patch of black stuff on the lead actor’s pants and releasing a cloud of horribly fowl smelling gas. Since none of the movie crew had any idea what actually happened, it was pretty obvious what they were thinking.

“OH, THE STENCH!” the lead actress screamed before falling backwards like a tree.

“That is not a stench a human being is capable of producing!” the director yelled through the megaphone. “What is wrong with you?!”

“It wasn’t me!” the main actor yelled.

Back in Gold’s house, the three Dex Holders were busy trying not to die from laughing too hard. Ruby barely managed to climb back to his feet and looked through the binoculars. Several cameramen and staff members were lying on the ground, with twisted faces from the fowl stench. The lead actor was busy trying to hide the massive black stain on his pants…

“You even sh*t your pants!” came the director’s voice, causing the three Dex Holders to laugh even harder. “Get out of here!”

Sapphire wiped away a tear as she desperately tried to calm down. But she couldn’t help it and ended up bursting into laughter once more.

“Oh, that is just classic,” Ruby muttered as he tried to calm down.

Sapphire tried to calm down once more. She took the slingshot and another stink bomb from the “Li’l Bastard General Mischief Kit” and looked out through the window.

“Hey, is this thing toxic?” she asked Gold.

Gold looked at the back of the “Li’l Bastard General Mischief Kit” where all the warning signs were. The only thing the warning sign said about the stink bombs being toxic or not was:

“The stink bombs are non-toxic. However, eating or swallowing the stink bombs is _highly_ not recommended.”

“No,” Gold replied. “You won’t die from eating one of those, apparently.”

“Oh, very good then.” Sapphire looked at where the filming crew was and fired the stink bomb.

The stink bomb flew straight towards the film crew and… hit right beside the director’s mouth. The three Dex Holders burst into laughter once more when the director announced his misery through the megaphone.

“That’s it! Abandon movie!” the director roared through the megaphone. “Let’s get out of here!”

Gold quickly scanned the area around the film crew and spotted the van in which the equipment was stored. Beside that van was a bus in which the film personnel rode. Gold took the slingshot from Sapphire and with 5 stink bombs, bombarded the bus. 3 made it through the open windows of the bus. One hit the driver’s seat and the remaining one hit the door.

“Enjoy the trip back!” Ruby yelled. He knew that the movie staff wasn’t going to hear him, but felt like yelling out anyways. “Ah, sweet, sweet revenge…”

“So you got what you came for,” Gold said. “Now what are you going to do?”

“Well… I guess we can travel around Johto a little,” Sapphire said as she looked at Ruby. “Do a little sightseeing.”

Ruby thought for a second. “Sure, why not. We came all this way from Hoenn after all. We can’t leave just yet.”

“Good, good. Then out you go,” Gold said from behind.

Ruby and Sapphire looked at Gold, wondering why he was so eager in kicking them out. Just then, the door opened and Crystal appeared with her Xatu right behind.

“Gold, Tupeon and I just saw a movie staff hurriedly running away on our way here,” she said as she returned her Pokémon. “You wouldn’t have anything to do with that, would you?”

“No… of course not,” Gold said slowly. He carefully reached behind him for the “Li’l Bastard General Mischief Kit” and tried to hide it from view. But Crystal saw the box before Gold could hide it.

“Hey, what the…” she started. “Gold! So that _mischief kit_ came from you! I was wondering where Emerald got such a thing! And it _was_ you! You chased away the movie crew!” Crystal yelled angrily. “And you even dragged Ruby and Sapphire into this mess! What’s wrong with you?!”

“What? No! They’re the ones who-” Gold tried to explain, but Ruby and Sapphire interrupted him.

“It was all him! We tried to stop him but he threatened us!” Sapphire said as she dropped to her knees in front of Crystal. “It was horrible! He shot a stink bomb at that poor man’s face!”

“He shot stink bombs everywhere! I wouldn’t be surprised if the movie staff fainted from all that stench!” Ruby added as he helped Sapphire back up to her feet.

A vein bulged from Gold’s forehead. “Why you dirty, backstabbing, treacherous, betraying, untrustworthy-”

“I knew it! Gold, how many times did I tell you to set a good example for our juniors?!” Crystal yelled.

“Let’s get out of here,” Ruby whispered to Sapphire. The girl nodded and the two quickly ran away while Crystal scolded Gold.

From outside the house, Ruby and Sapphire looked up towards Gold’s bedroom and spotted the goggled boy leaning out of the window, still spewing insults and synonyms of same words.

“… Unfaithful, disloyal, deceitful, double-crossing, lying, perfidious, shifty, underhanded, dishonest, immoral, fraudulent ass-”

“Gold! Get back here!” came Crystal’s voice, interrupting the goggled boy once more.

Ruby and Sapphire smiled at each other before they slowly walked away. The next encounter with the goggled boy wasn’t going to be fun, but… oh well.

“So our seniors were right,” Sapphire said with a satisfied sigh. “We are a perfect combination.”

“Well, I must say,” Ruby said. “Framing Gold for all that was brilliant.” He put a hand on Sapphire’s shoulder. “Though I think my acting was better than yours. After all, I did receive some acting lessons while I was involved with that movie.”

Sapphire called for her Tropius and hopped on when the Fruit Pokémon appeared a minute later.

“Hop on,” she said to Ruby. “Well, Ruby. You used to live in Johto. Where should we go?”

“Let’s go to Goldenrod City. There are lots of stuff to do there, and it’s my old home. We’ll eat lunch there,” Ruby replied as he climbed on. “Of course, I’m buying. And maybe I can get you a nice new set of clothes from the Goldenrod Department Store.”

Sapphire smiled. “Well… okay, I guess. Let’s go then!”

* * *

What Could Have Been:

Gold, Ruby and Sapphire stood in the open around 100 meters away from the filming stage. In order to disrupt the movie’s production yet appear innocent, the three Dex Holders were going to have a battle.

Sapphire watched as Ruby and Gold battled. Gold, being the one who could see the movie staff, was on offense.

“Now, Explotaro, Flamethrower!” he yelled.

The Typhlosion did as ordered a whole second later, giving Ruby and his Swampert ample time to get out of the way. Naturally, the Flamethrower missed the target and barely missed the movie staff 100 meters away. During the battle, Ruby and Gold switched positions.

“Zuzu, Muddy Water!” Ruby yelled. The Swampert did the same as Typhlosion and waited until Gold and the Volcano Pokémon moved out of the way before using the attack. Gold and Ruby switched positions once more.

Sapphire grinned and joined in on the battle. She sent out her Blaziken and with Gold, ordered a Blast Burn. Ruby and Swampert moved out of the way and the two Fire type starters used their ultimate attacks…

“ABANDON MOVIE SET!” the director roared through the megaphone as he saw two massive streams of fire heading towards him and the movie set…


	11. Doomed - GC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was first uploaded on October 20, 2011.
> 
> Currently, there is an issue where this story (SE) is progressing too quickly. Thanks to the sheer number of cuts from the original SE (this chapter is #011 on this site, but #027 on the other), the "DE phase" is coming way too quickly. And the 3rd chapter of DE, which would be chapter 21 here, requires SA to have reached 31 first. So until then, SE will have to be slowed down.

**Primary: Gold & Crystal.**

Doomed:

Gold put a hand on his head and groaned. He had a serious headache, and his head physically hurt as well, as if he ran headfirst into a tree. He slowly sat up and examined his surroundings. It appeared to be late at night, as it was very dark and cold. And from what he could tell, he was near a park, underneath a large tree. But even in the darkness, he could still make out his billiard cue lying on the ground not too far away.

The goggled boy rose to his feet and picked up his billiard cue. He adjusted his cap and started to walk in a random direction, trying to find out where he was exactly. But as he walked, he could feel something on his billiard cue. Upon taking a closer look, Gold found what appeared to be charcoal all over the cue.

“Charcoal?” the goggled boy muttered. He took a look around and he saw what appeared to be a well in the distance. “Charcoal and a well… am I in Azalea Town?” He reached for his Pokégear but soon realized that he didn’t have it with him. He didn’t have any Pokémon on him either. “I have no Pokégear or Pokémon, and I’m in Azalea Town… what the hell happened yesterday?”

Soon, Gold managed to get out of the park and headed for the Pokémon Center. Inside, he checked the time; it was 1 am. Wondering why he was in the middle of Azalea Town past midnight, the goggled boy headed towards the nearest payphone, just outside the Pokémon Center. He reached into his pocket to withdraw some coins, but then realized that he had absolutely no money either. In fact, there was nothing in his pockets. The _only_ non-clothes he had on him were his goggles and the billiard cue.

“… F*ck…”

Gold took a look around, and after making sure that no one was nearby, he smashed his billiard cue into the payphone where the coins were stored. From the smashed phone, he took enough coins to make one call. The phone still worked, so he used the coins to make a call.

“Hello?” came Crystal’s voice a few rings later. Gold noticed that her voice was unusually quiet and sad. He figured that it was probably because it was 1 am. She was probably sleeping.

“Hey, Crys, this is Gold,” he started. “I-” Unfortunately, he had figured wrong.

“You have some nerve calling me, you jerk!” Crystal yelled through the phone. “I told you I never want to talk to you again!”

“Whoa… what?” Gold asked. He wanted to ask what she was talking about, but Crystal had already hung up. “… All right… what the hell happened yesterday?”

Gold turned around and sighed, wondering what he should do. He decided to go to Violet City to try to talk to Crystal. But first, he’ll need supplies. He turned back to the phone and took all the coins from the smashed payphone. He knew stealing was wrong and he didn’t like stealing at all, but this was an emergency; society would have to understand.

With the newly acquired money, he headed towards the nearest 24-hour store. He had to go through Union Cave to get to Violet City, so he’d need a flashlight and probably some food and water. But as he walked through the aisles to pick absolutely necessary stuff, he noticed the abundance of heart shaped things and chocolates.

“Someone stocked up on chocolates a bit too much,” Gold muttered.

He grabbed a water bottle and a flashlight and headed towards the counter. From what he could calculate, after purchasing those two things, he would have enough money for one more phone call.

“Hey, looks like someone’s been busy tonight,” said the clerk when Gold approached.

“What?” the goggled boy asked. The clerk took a small mirror on the counter and showed it to him. Gold looked into it, and noticed that there were pink lipstick marks on his cheek. ‘ _Huh. That’s weird,_ ’ he thought as he examined the mark closer. ‘ _Crys doesn’t use lipsticks… … Uh oh…_ ’ “Hey, what day was it yesterday?” Gold asked, sensing impending doom.

“Valentine’s Day,” the clerk replied. “You must’ve been wasted to forget that.”

“Oh sh*t…” Gold muttered. “I’m screwed…”

He hastily paid for the water and flashlight and ran out of the store. He headed straight towards Union Cave. He had to get to Crystal ASAP and try to explain things, even though he wasn’t clear on the details himself. Could it be that he was actually cheating on Crystal? That was impossible…

But because of the dark, he failed to see a large tree near the charcoal store that had a large heart carved around the message “Gold + Plati”…

…

12 pm…

…

Gold panted to catch his breath right in front of Crystal’s house. He ran through Route 33, Union Cave, and Route 32 to get to Violet City. He was tired, hungry, sleepy, but mostly confused by the time he arrived in front of Crystal’s house. He was going to find out what happened, and Crystal would have to understand that whatever he did yesterday, he didn’t mean it.

The goggled boy poured the remains of the water bottle on his face and used his sleeve to clean his face of all lipstick remains. It was obvious that seeing the lipstick mark would only infuriate Crystal.

Gold knocked on the door with whatever strength he had left. The door soon opened and Crystal appeared in the doorway. Seeing Gold, she narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

“Crys… let’s talk about this,” the goggled boy wheezed out. Crystal rolled her eyes and proceeded to shut the door. Gold stuck his arm in the opening. “Come on, Crys! What did I do?”

“You know damn well what you did!” Crystal yelled. She tried to slam the door.

“Ow… Come on, Crys! I don’t- Ow… know what- Ow… happened!” Gold yelled out as Crystal repeatedly slammed the door on his arm. “Whatever I- Ow… did, I’m sure I- Ow… didn’t mean it!”

“Just go away!” Crystal yelled. She opened the door and pushed Gold out of the way. The goggled boy tried to reach out to her, but she slammed the door on his face.

“Crys! Come on! I don’t remember what happened yesterday! And I ran all the way here from Azalea Town!” Gold yelled from the outside. With a sigh, he turned away. Crystal wasn’t going to open the door again. In fact, it appeared that she was about to cry. “Oh, I’m screwed and I don’t even know why!”

With the remaining coins in his pocket, he called one person that would be able to help him: Blue. Well, he _tried_ to call her. Unfortunately, the only phone number that he memorized was Crystal’s (apart from his own house, anyways). As a result, he had no choice but to call home. From his mother, Gold learned something new. Apparently Crystal had gone over to his house yesterday and dropped off his Pokégear and Pokémon.

“Another clue…” Gold muttered.

He requested that his Pokémon come to him, as he wasn’t willing to walk all the way to New Bark Town. He then hung up and headed towards the Pokémon Center. As he waited, he went over the list of clues.

“Okay… It was Valentine’s Day yesterday, I had lipstick mark on my face, I woke up in Azalea Town without my Pokégear or Pokémon, my cue had charcoal on it, Crys hates me now, and she dropped off my Pokégear and Pokémon at my house yesterday. Hmm…” Gold closed his eyes and tried to think. “… … I really need senior Blue’s help to solve this mess. Crys definitely knows something about what happened, but she’s not going to tell me any time soon.”

30 minutes later, his Togekiss arrived in Violet City Pokémon Center with a bag on its back. Gold took the bag and looked inside. He found his Pokégear and his entire Pokémon team. He took his Pokégear and searched the recently-called list. The last person he called was…

“Who the hell is Laura?” Gold mumbled. He looked at his Pokémon. ‘ _One of my Pokémon must know what happened…_ ’ “Damn it! I need senior Yellow’s help!” He returned his Togekiss and sent out his Mantine (and Remoraids). “To the Viridian Forest!”

…

An hour later, Viridian Forest…

…

Gold knocked on the door to Yellow’s house after returning his Mantine. A couple of minutes later, the door opened and Yellow appeared. She appeared awfully tired, though.

“Hi, Gold,” she said with a warm smile. “How are you doing?”

“Crap,” the goggled boy replied. “Something happened yesterday that made Crys hate me and I don’t know what it is. So… I need your help.”

“Oh… sure, I’ll do my best.”

The Kanto Dex Holder stepped aside and let Gold enter. She led her junior to the living room and sat on the couch. Gold sent out his Typhlosion. Yellow put a hand over her mouth and yawned.

“Okay… I’ll see what I can do…” she put her hand on Explotaro’s head and closed her eyes.

Gold sat on a chair and watched. He waited for a few minutes and when Yellow didn’t react at all, he began to think something was wrong.

“Uh… senior Yellow?”

Yellow jumped in surprise and opened her eyes. “Oh, oh… right. Sorry.” She yawned again and shook away her drowsiness.

“Uh… what’s wrong?”

“I’m really sorry, Gold. Truth is, I woke up when you knocked on the door. Red and I went on a cruise to Hoenn for the past few days and I only returned home a few hours ago.”

“Oh. So I guess you couldn’t read Explotaro’s thoughts, huh?”

“No, I saw its thoughts,” Yellow replied. “Yesterday, you bought a bouquet of flowers from the Goldenrod Flower Shop. You then flew around for an hour and stopped at a town. There, you met some girl. Your Pokémon didn’t have a good view, but from what I could tell, Crystal saw you and began to chase you. You dropped your bag and your wallet and ran away. From what your Typhlosion saw, I think the girl you were meeting took the money from your wallet. Crystal returned, took the bag and the wallet and went over to your house to drop them off.”

Gold groaned and put a hand on his head. “So I _was_ cheating on Crys… but… but that’s impossible!” Suddenly, a thought occurred. “Wait… the girl took my money? And wait… I was on Mantaro for an hour? Did I stop anywhere?”

Yellow thought for a second. “I think you did half an hour into the flight.”

Gold thought for a second before he rose to his feet. “Thanks senior. Now I’m going to go get someone else’s help. You should get some rest.”

Yellow yawned again. “Sorry for not being able to help you more.”

Gold returned his Explotaro and left his senior’s house. With his Mantine, he headed to Viridian City. From the Pokémon Center, he called Blue. It was a good thing he had the Pokégear number of every Dex Holder registered in his Pokégear. As he waited, he sat by a table inside the Pokémon Center and tried to come up with a theory on what happened. Blue arrived at the Pokémon center a few minutes later, as she had been in the Viridian Gym. She appeared a little angry at him, though.

“Uh… hey, senior. Why do I get the feeling you’re pissed off at me?” Gold asked.

“Yesterday was Valentine’s Day,” Blue said as she crossed her arms and sat across the table. “I sent Red and Yellow onto a cruise last week so they could spend Valentine’s Day at the climax of the cruise. Ruby and Sapphire went to Lake Verity. Dia and Platinum went to the beach in Cherrygrove City. Even Green took me to the cape in Route 25. But Crys told me what happened yesterday.”

“About that,” Gold started, but his senior wouldn’t let him continue.

“You broke her heart! On Valentine’s Day! You were cheating on her!”

“I – I can explain!” Gold yelled out.

“Really? Explain, then,” Blue ordered.

“… Actually, I can’t. I don’t really know what happened yesterday. I need your help to find out what exactly happened. I couldn’t have cheated on Crys. That’s just not possible!”

Blue lightened her expression. “…Continue. How exactly am I going to help?”

Gold began to explain as much as he knew about what happened. “And I think this girl Laura is the one who caused the whole misunderstanding. I think she came onto me so she could take my money and then ditched me.”

Blue sighed. “Girls who only care for money… disgusting…”

“Well, she’s…” Gold trailed off. “Wait… from what I heard from seniors Red and Green, _you_ only cared for money!”

Blue appeared a little hurt. “… That was years ago, okay? At any rate! What exactly do you want me to do?”

“Maybe you can find out what exactly happened.”

“All right then. Tell me everything again, and I’ll try to piece them together.”

“Okay. As far as I know…”

Blue listened attentively as Gold listed all of the clues he found and everything that happened so far once more. After the goggled boy finished his story, she sat in silence as she began to think.

“Hmm… If I had to guess, I’d say that this Laura did some research on you. She knew about you dating Crys. I think this Laura snatched the flowers you bought for Crys and made it look like you were cheating on her. She was probably trying to get some money off of you.”

“So… I have a stalker?”

“Either that, or this girl was insane and random things happened that caused a misunderstanding. It’s impossible to determine what exactly happened.” Blue sighed and pulled out her Pokégear. “I told Platinum to go talk to Crys, and I can call her and tell her that you’re innocent, but you’ll still have to talk to her to set things straight.”

“I know,” Gold said. He rose to his feet. “Well… thanks, senior.”

…

An hour later, Violet City…

…

Diamond and Platinum stood outside Crystal’s house, looking at each other. Diamond had to get to New Bark Town to assist Professor Elm (Platinum had to as well, but Blue had ordered her to talk to Crystal first, so she came to Violet City instead), so he had to say goodbye to the heiress.

“Diamond, you should have gone straight to New Bark Town instead of accompanying me to Violet City,” Platinum said.

“I wanted to make sure that you arrived in Violet City safely,” Diamond said.

Platinum smiled and grabbed his hand. “Thank you for your concern.” She kissed him and looked extremely happy. “Go to Professor Elm, Diamond. I shall follow you once I am finished comforting senior Crystal. Though I fear that it may take a while, rest assured that I will meet up with you in New Bark Town.”

Diamond nodded and soon left on his bicycle. Platinum watched her boyfriend with a warm smile before she knocked on the door. Before long, the door opened and Crystal appeared. The heiress looked at her senior and noticed the difference in her appearance. Crystal’s hair wasn’t combed nicely like normal, for one.

“Oh, hey Platinum,” Crystal said with a fake smile.

“Senior Crystal, are you okay?” the heiress asked with a worried expression.

“Of course I am! Why do you ask?” Crystal asked with narrowed eyes. She knew why her junior came. Perhaps the younger girl would take the hint and just leave her alone. But unfortunately, Platinum could be clueless at times.

“I heard from senior Blue about what happened with senior Gold.”

A vein bulged out from Crystal’s forehead and Platinum noticed that her senior suddenly looked very angry.

“And what, did she send you here to rub it in my face?!” Crystal yelled. “Sure, you have Dia who’ll never cheat on you, and he took you to the beach yesterday. I’m _so_ happy for you! While I saw Gold cheating on me yesterday, you must’ve had such a romantic moment with Dia!”

“Um… senior?”

“Just go away and leave me alone!”

Crystal slammed the door shut and the heiress slowly walked away with a sad expression. As she walked away, she ran into Gold.

“Platinum, how’s Crys?” the goggled boy asked.

The heiress sighed and proceeded to explain what happened. As Gold listened, he became more and more worried. Crystal was _really_ upset, seeing how she even yelled at Platinum.

“Well… I’ll talk to her and see if I can get her to calm down,” Gold said. “And don’t feel too bad. Super Serious Gal is just super upset.”

“I understand,” Platinum said with another sigh. She still looked sad, however. She bowed to her senior and turned to leave.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“I am going to Professor Elm’s laboratory.”

Gold reached into his bag and withdrew the Pokéball containing his Togekiss. He tossed the Pokéball to Platinum. “Take Togetaro. New Bark Town is a long way from here if you walk.”

“Thank you very much, senior,” Platinum said with another bow. With her senior’s Togekiss, the heiress headed towards New Bark Town.

Gold approached Crystal’s house and took a deep breath. Crystal was still very angry, and she was probably not willing to listen to any explanations. So the goggled boy decided to take a risk. With another deep breath to get ready, he knocked on the door. Crystal opened the door a few seconds later. Once she saw him, she proceeded to shut the door again.

Gold stuck his billiard cue in the doorway to prevent it from shutting. “Crys, if you can’t tell when I’m being sincere even after all these years, I have nothing more to say. If you trust me, then meet me in front of the Pokémon Center in 10 minutes. If you don’t trust me, then I really will have to find someone else.”

As expected, Crystal froze from the other side. Gold put his billiard cue away and shut the door himself. Afterwards, he headed towards the Pokémon Center and took note on the time. He sat on a bench nearby and began to think over what he was going to say.

Exactly 5 minutes and 43 seconds later, Crystal showed up. She sat on the bench beside him, but at the very end of the bench.

“I’m… sorry, Gold,” Crystal started after a sigh. “I heard from mom that you came to find me here, but what I saw in Azalea Town…”

“Crys, I don’t know exactly what happened yesterday,” Gold started. “I might have hit my head on something, quite possibly a tree. But listen. There is no way that I would cheat on you.” He put a hand on Crystal’s shoulder. Crystal turned to face him. Gold looked into her eyes and as sincerely as possible, spoke. “I love you, Crys.” Before Crystal could say anything, Gold reached over and kissed her on the lips. “If that doesn’t prove that I love you, then I don’t know what will,” he said once the kiss ended.

“Gold…” Crystal began. But instead of continuing, she simply let out a long, long sigh.

“Uh… Crys?”

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled out. “I never should have doubted you…”

“It’s okay, Crys. As long as you believe me, I’m happy.”

Crystal kissed him and nodded. “Thanks for your sincerity. I love you too, Gold.”

“If your mood is back to normal, does that mean that you’ll talk to Platinum? I’m sure senior Blue will kill me if she finds out that you hurt Platinum’s feelings because of me.”

“Yes. I’ll talk to her and apologize for what happened. Then we’ll all forget that this whole thing ever happened,” Crystal replied.

Gold nodded and put an arm around Crystal’s shoulders. “Hey Crys, what do you think actually happened yesterday?”

Crystal let out a content sigh. “As long as you don’t regain your memory, we’ll never know.”

* * *

Post Ending:

_Valentine’s Day…_

_Gold dug into his bag for his wallet as the Goldenrod Flower Shop’s clerk picked a recommended bouquet of flowers. It wasn’t Gold’s fault that he had no idea what flower to give someone during Valentine’s Day._

_“Buying flowers for your girlfriend?” asked the clerk. “6000 PKD, by the way.”_

_“That should be obvious,” the goggled boy replied. He gave the clerk 8000 PKD, to cover the bouquet’s cost and the tip. He went out of the shop and sent out his Mantine. “All right, Mantaro, to Super Serious Gal’s house!”_

_…_

_30 minutes later, Violet City…_

_…_

_Gold kept the flower bouquet hidden behind him as he knocked on the door to Crystal’s house. The door soon opened and Crystal’s ‘crazy’ mother appeared._

_“Oh, hi Gold!” she shouted gleefully._

_“Uh… hi. Is Crys home?” the goggled boy asked._

_“No. Crys went to Azalea Town to pick up specially made Pokéballs and to deliver more Apricorns to Kurt.”_

_“Oh. Thank you.” Gold sent out his Mantine again. “To Azalea Town! Let’s go!”_

_…_

_30 minutes later…_

_…_

_Gold got off his Mantine in front of Azalea Town’s Pokémon Center. He didn’t really know where Kurt’s house was, so he needed to ask for directions. The Pokémon Center was packed, so he headed to the charcoal shop near the Pokémon Center. He carefully put the bouquet of flowers in his bag and entered the store. The moment he got inside, a Farfetch’d popped out of nowhere and snatched away his billiard cue._

_“Hey, what the?! Give that back, you freaking piece of-”_

_“Gold, is that you?” came an unfamiliar voice from beside._

_The goggled boy looked and saw an unfamiliar girl looking at him. “Do I know you?”_

_“I’m Laura! And I LOVE YOU!” the girl squealed out._

_Gold looked at the girl with a surprised look. “… The hell?” He looked at the Farfetch’d and threw a small piece of charcoal at it. The charcoal hit the Farfetch’d in the back of its head and it dropped the billiard cue into a pile of charcoal. Gold reached for his billiard cue but Laura picked it up first. “Hey, give that back!”_

_“This is you famous cue!” she squealed out as she swung the indestructible, charcoal smeared billiard cue._

_The girl ran out of the store and Gold chased after her._

_“Hey, what the hell!” Gold yelled._

_The girl started to laugh as she ran towards a large tree and with the billiard cue, began to carve something into the tree._

_“Look what I wrote!” the girl squealed out._

_The goggled boy saw the carved message and looked confused. It wasn’t good for him, as the message was a large heart enclosed around the words ‘Gold + Plati’._

_“Who the hell’s Plati? Are you trying to write Platinum?”_

_“Who’s Platinum?” Laura asked. “No, my last name is Plati. There are a lot of girls with the name Laura in Azalea Town, so I needed to pick something distinct.”_

_Noticing the girl’s slight distraction, Gold tried to snatch his billiard cue. Though the goggled boy did manage to snatch his billiard cue, the probably-insane girl simply embraced him and kissed him on the cheek, leaving pink lipstick marks._

_“Hey, what the hell!” Gold yelled as he pushed the girl away._

_The girl suddenly reached for his bag and took the bouquet of flowers. “These are my favorites!” the girl yelled. The girl then snatched the goggled boy’s Pokégear and dialed her own Pokégear number. “Now you can call me whenever! I registered my Pokégear number into your Pokégear!”_

_Gold gritted his teeth at the absurdity of the situation and tried to get the bouquet and Pokégear back. He managed to snatch his Pokégear back, but not the bouquet. While trying to get the flower bouquet back, he noticed the uncomfortable proximity between the crazy girl’s face and his own. If Crystal was to see this…_

_“Gold?” came a familiar voice from behind._

_Gold froze. He turned around and saw Crystal looking at him with a horrified expression. “Oh… this is just not fair…”_

_“Gold, were you… … What are you…” Crystal stammered, unable to finish any of her questions._

_“Crys! This isn’t what it looks like!” Gold yelled._

_“Oh, it’s EXACTLY what it looks like!” Laura yelled._

_Crystal trembled in anger and Gold quickly ran towards her. But the moment he got close, she kicked him in the knee._

_“Ow, Crys! Believe me! I wasn’t doing anything!” Gold tried to explain, but Crystal wouldn’t listen._

_“You were cheating on me, you jerk!” she screamed out. The goggled boy tried to run to avoid experiencing Crystal’s wrath, but she grabbed him by his bag and began to hit him on the head. “How could you?! On Valentine’s Day!”_

_Gold quickly took his bag off and ran for his life. Crystal dropped the bag and chased after him, and the content of the bag spilled out onto the ground, including the goggled boy’s wallet and Pokégear._

_“Look, Crys, I’m sorry! But I wasn’t cheating on you! That female is crazy!” he yelled, pointing at Laura in the distance._

_“Shut up! I never want to talk to you again!” Crystal screamed out._

_Laura picked up Gold’s fallen wallet and took all the cash, seeing how no one was looking. Gold ran as fast as he could, occasionally glancing back to see how close Crystal was. Crystal was slowing down, as she didn’t really have any energy to run. She simply picked up rocks and started to throw them. Gold continued running. He looked back to track oncoming rocks. But because of that, he couldn’t see the low hanging tree branch. He slammed his head on the tree, and because he was running as fast as he could, he was immediately knocked unconscious from the impact._

_Crystal couldn’t see because her vision was blurring from tears and had already turned away. She wiped away some of her tears as she walked back. She soon found Gold’s belongings scattered on the ground. She picked up Gold’s bag and put the other belongings into the bag. Inside the bag, she found an envelope._

_Crystal looked at the envelope but instead of opening it, simply crammed it back into the bag. She took all of Gold’s belongings and with her Xatu, headed towards New Bark Town so she could drop them off at the goggled boy’s house. Because she never opened the envelope, she would never find the crucial clue that proved Gold’s innocence: a short letter from the goggled boy to Crystal._

_It was a simple letter with a simple message. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Super Serious Gal. You won’t hear me say this much, but here it is: I love you.”_


	12. Gone Fishin' - DPt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was first uploaded on January 3, 2012. It is chapter 30 in the original SE, meaning 18 chapters were cut in the transition to Ao3. Yikes.

**Primary: Diamond & Platinum.**

Gone Fishin’:

Lake Verity, Sinnoh…

Platinum sat quietly on a little boat, watching her fishing rod intently. It was her first time fishing, and she was excited to catch something. Diamond was sitting beside her, with a fishing rod of his own. He wasn’t really paying attention to his rod, however. Platinum looked over at him and noticed that he was staring in her direction.

“Diamond, is there something wrong?” the heiress asked. “You seem preoccupied.”

Diamond snapped out of his thought. “Huh? Oh… nothing.” He quickly looked away and hoped that Platinum would not notice that he was staring at her. ‘ _All alone with the Lady…_ ’ he turned to look at the _other_ boat in Lake Verity at the moment. ‘ _Well… all alone except for them…_ ’

The other boat, floating quite far away from them, had Red and Yellow on board. They were fishing as well, and enjoying the silence the tranquil lake offered. Red was asleep with his hat covering his face, and Yellow sat beside him, simply staring at him. The two Kanto Dex Holders would not be disturbing anyone.

But unfortunately for Diamond, Platinum seemed way too interested in her first experience at fishing to notice that she was completely alone with him. Suddenly, the heiress’s fishing rod moved slightly.

“Oh, oh! I think I have something!” Platinum said excitedly. She tugged at her fishing rod, but unfortunately, whatever was on the hook let go. The heiress almost fell off the boat from pulling too hard, but Diamond caught her.

“Are you okay, Lady?” he asked.

“Yes, I am fine,” the heiress replied. But her voice was filled with disappointment. “I almost had it…”

“It’s okay. You’ll have more chances,” Diamond said. “But please be careful…”

Platinum nodded and resumed her attempts at fishing. Diamond looked at the boat which had his seniors. Red had woken up and he was helping Yellow as she struggled to pull up her catch. Seeing how Red was basically embracing her while helping, Diamond got an idea. For the time being, he’ll need to wait until something bites.

“So… Lady, what made you want to try fishing?”

Platinum suddenly looked embarrassed. “I… um… saw an advertisement for a fishing rod, and… I became curious.”

“Then why did you ask me to come with you?” Diamond asked.

The heiress looked away to hide a forming blush. “I thought that you would be better company for this than Pearl.” She suddenly looked at him with a worried expression. “Why do you ask? Do you not like being here?”

“No, no, I like it,” Diamond said hastily. ‘ _A lot…_ ’ “I was just curious. That’s all.”

Both Platinum and Diamond looked away and quietly sighed. Diamond glanced at the heiress and wished he had the courage to say what he wanted to say.

…

4 hours later…

…

Platinum snapped into focus when her fishing rod started to shake violently. She had spent the last four hours talking to Diamond, discussing various things (such as what he was doing nowadays, and what he thought of his seniors), and as such, wasn’t ready. She almost lost her fishing rod, but caught it just before it fell into the water. But she didn’t have a good grip as a result.

“Diamond, help!” she yelled.

Diamond jumped up and tried to assist. Because Platinum wasn’t as small compared to him (unlike Yellow, who was significantly smaller than Red), Diamond was unable to ‘embrace’ the heiress while assisting. Instead, he grabbed the rod and stood beside her.

But unfortunately, the heiress seemed to have caught something _huge_. Diamond helping didn’t do anything. Even as the words “Lady, let go of the rod!” were making their way from his brain to his mouth, whatever Platinum had hooked dragged her into the water. On instinct, he let go of the rod before he fell in as well.

“Diamond!” Platinum screamed before she hit the water.

‘ _No, no, no!_ ’ “Lady! I’m coming!” Diamond yelled. He dived into the water after taking a deep breath. Only after a few seconds did he regret his decision to dive without looking inside Platinum’s bag, which contained the Pokéball for her Empoleon.

Underwater, Diamond could see Platinum with her hands over her mouth, trying to kick away from her catch… which happened to be a Gyarados… of all things. Her catch seemed to be satisfied with _its_ catch.

The Gyarados swam towards Platinum at an alarmingly fast rate, with its mouth wide open. The heiress shut her eyes and braced herself, but Diamond managed to pull her away before she was bitten in half.

Platinum opened her eyes and looked at him. He noticed that she looked absolutely terrified… and she seemed to be suffocating from lack of air. Diamond looked at the Gyarados. It was swimming above the humans so it could block any attempts of them escaping. As a result, Diamond did the only thing he could think of to help Platinum breathe. He placed his lips onto the girl’s and breathed into her lungs. He hoped that whatever air (and hopefully not the CO2) was left in his mouth would help the heiress for a little longer.

Platinum looked shocked. Diamond ignored her and focused on the Gyarados; a little too late, however, as he had barely enough time to push the heiress out of the way of an Aqua Tail. Platinum tried to swim towards the surface, but the Gyarados wouldn’t let her. It tried to eat her again just as Diamond swam to catch up with her. Platinum desperately tried to swim away while the Gyarados was about to swallow her whole…

Meanwhile, on the surface, Red and Yellow looked where their juniors were a short while ago. Realizing what happened, Red sent out his Poliwrath to find and save the two Sinnoh Dex Holders.

Platinum opened her eyes, surprised that she was still alive. She turned around and saw that Diamond was holding the Gyarados’s mouth open.

‘ _Come on, Lady… get out of there!_ ’ Diamond thought, struggling to keep the Pokémon’s mouth from closing.

After a few seconds of shock, Platinum snapped out of her trance and quickly swam out of the Gyarados’s mouth. Thankfully, before Diamond lost strength, Red’s Poliwrath smashed its fist into the Gyarados’s face, forcing it to back off. The Poliwrath grabbed both Sinnoh Dex Holders and began to swim.

The Gyarados, pissed off, started to swim in a circle really fast, forming a whirlpool. The Poliwrath lost its grip on the two Sinnoh Dex Holders in the vortex, and was forced to swim away to avoid being sucked in.

Platinum kept her hands over her mouth and tried to swim away while she was sucked into the vortex. Realizing that it was hopeless, she shut her eyes and hoped that at least Diamond would make it out alive. She was knocked out when something big hit her in the chest.

Diamond could see that Platinum had collided into him in the vortex. Afraid that he would lose her, he embraced her tight and shut his eyes. He knew he was going to die… he wanted Platinum to survive, but it seemed that she was going to drown with him… There was no way that Red’s Poliwrath would be able to find the two Sinnoh Dex Holders in the vortex.

But then, something odd happened. Diamond noticed that he couldn’t move or feel the vortex. He could still feel Platinum in his embrace, but couldn’t feel the water around him at all. It was as if something had grabbed onto him with psychic powers… Diamond realized that something was pulling him away from the vortex and towards what appeared to be an underwater cave. And it turned out that the underwater cave was a part of the island in the center of Lake Verity…

The boy pulled himself out of the water while carrying Platinum’s motionless body on his back. He concluded that it was Mesprit that helped him with its psychic powers. He sincerely thanked it (he was sure that it could hear him) and gently set Platinum onto the cave floor. He then sat beside her and looked up. He could see the sky through big gaps in the cave ceiling, and more than enough light filtered through the gaps to illuminate the entire area. There weren’t any paths or exits… The only way out was back into the water.

He looked at the heiress who was still lying motionless. He quickly took off her hat and tried to see if she had been injured. As far as he could tell, Platinum didn’t have any cuts or injuries on the head, so he put her hat back on. He then checked her arms and legs and was relieved to find no cuts or bruises.

Diamond carefully checked Platinum’s pulse. To his relief, the heiress was alive. She was barely breathing, but her pulse was strong. He sighed in relief and leaned against the cave wall. He gently pulled Platinum towards him and moved her so that the heiress would rest her head on his lap. Diamond then took off his vest and put it on Platinum. He gently brushed the few strands of hair away from the heiress’s face and carefully kissed her on the cheek. He hoped that she would wake up soon, and closed his eyes.

Platinum woke up a few hours later and began to cough up the water she swallowed. She groaned and turned to her side so she could spit the water in her mouth. She noticed that she was no longer in water and opened her eyes. She was rather surprised that she was alive…

‘ _What happened?_ ’ she thought to herself. ‘ _Why am I in a cave?_ ’ She noticed that there was something warm covering her. It took her a second to realize that it was Diamond’s vest… She gasped in shock. ‘ _Diamond!_ ’

Platinum quickly sat up and noticed that Diamond was leaning against the cave wall. He appeared to be asleep… Relieved that he was unharmed and was asleep, she looked as the boy slept peacefully. The heiress then realized that she had been resting her head on Diamond’s lap all this time… She blushed in embarrassment but couldn’t help but admit that it was rather comfortable. With a smile, she lay down again and rested her head on his lap once more. She pulled Diamond’s vest closer to her heart and tried to sleep.

…

“Lady? Lady, wake up.”

Platinum slowly opened her eyes. She could see Diamond looking at her with a worried expression.

“Hello, Diamond,” the heiress said with a smile.

“Oh, I was so worried… Lady, are you okay?” Diamond asked.

Platinum slowly sat up and smiled again. “Yes, I am perfectly fine, thanks to you. Thank you for protecting me.” She returned Diamond’s vest back to its owner. “Again, thank you. But Diamond, where are we?”

“I’m not quite sure,” Diamond replied as he put his vest back on. “I think Mesprit brought us here from the whirlpool.”

The heiress took a look around. “How do we get out?”

Diamond pointed at the water. “We’ll have to go underwater and resurface outside. Don’t worry Lady, I’ll make sure that the Gyarados isn’t still out there.” He suddenly looked worried. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

Platinum shook her head. “I am unscathed.”

“Good. Now, if you’re ready, let’s get out of here.”

Diamond rose to his feet and extended a hand to Platinum. The heiress was about to accept it when she noticed something strange. She could see some blood on the cave wall where Diamond had been leaning on. Platinum looked surprised. She rose to her feet and slowly walked behind him. He lowered his hand and sighed. He got caught…

“Diamond…” Platinum started. She could see a hole in his vest and could see that the area around the hole had been dyed crimson. “Are… are you injured?”

“No, no… it’s just a scratch!” Diamond said as he turned so Platinum could not look at his injury. But unfortunately, the amount of blood the heiress saw said otherwise.

“Diamond, please remove your vest,” Platinum ordered. Diamond did as told and the heiress moved behind him to examine the injury. She gasped in shock. The injury was definitely _not_ a scratch, but more like a stab wound. “When… when did this happen?”

“I don’t know,” Diamond lied.

But Platinum seemed to have figured it out anyways. “The Gyarados… When you tried to save me from its mouth…”

Much to Diamond’s shock, Platinum started to cry. “Lady, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“I – I am so sorry, Diamond… Because of me…” she sobbed out. “I – I never should have asked you to come with me on this fishing trip!”

“Lady, it’s not your fault. And don’t worry, this is nothing serious. So please stop crying…”

Platinum calmed down slightly. She was still sniffling and it made Diamond feel miserable. The heiress gently bit her lower lip as she wondered what she should do. But soon, a thought occurred.

“Diamond, please hold up your shirt.”

“Huh? Why?” Diamond asked.

“I am going to try to stop the bleeding,” the heiress replied.

“How?” Diamond asked. He glanced back and noticed that Platinum had taken her hat off. “No, no, no, not your hat, Lady,” he said as he quickly turned around.

“It is very similar to cotton, Diamond,” the heiress said as she squeezed the water out of her hat. “It would be highly effective in preventing blood loss.”

“Use my hat! Yours is expensive…”

“No. I cannot let you ruin your hat too. Diamond, please turn around.”

“But Lady… my hat’s not worth anything…”

Platinum calmly looked into Diamond’s eyes. “You have saved my life today. This is the least I can do in return. So please turn around.”

Diamond gave up and turned around. “Thank you…” he muttered as he lifted his shirt enough to expose the wound.

Platinum folded her hat twice and looked at the wound. “I apologize, but this may hurt. Please forgive me…” She then firmly placed her hat directly on the wound on Diamond’s lower back.

“Ow…”

“I am so sorry… Please keep the hat in place for a short while.”

Diamond did as told. “But how are you going to keep the hat in…” he trailed off when he felt something soft wrap around him. He looked down and saw Platinum’s scarf acting as a roll of bandage. “Lady, not your scarf too…”

“It is all done, Diamond,” Platinum said from behind a few seconds later. “You may now lower your shirt and put on your vest.”

Diamond did as told again and turned to look at her. He noticed that the heiress was missing her hair clips… He moved his hand to his lower back and could feel the 3 hair clips pinning the scarf in place.

“Not your hair clips too…”

Diamond noticed that Platinum’s hair was a lot longer than he thought. She sure looked cute without the clips… He shook away the thought.

“Well then… should we escape now?”

The heiress nodded. Diamond extended a hand to her and she grabbed it without hesitation. The two Sinnoh Dex Holders approached the water and after taking a deep breath, dived. Underwater, they could see a Poliwrath, Omastar, and a Gyarados swimming around. The Gyarados wasn’t the one who attacked the two Dex Holders however.

The two Sinnoh Dex Holders recognized the three Pokémon as their seniors’ and quickly swam towards them. With the three Pokémon protecting them, the two Dex Holders swam to the surface where Red and Yellow were waiting.

“Dia, Platinum! There you are!” Red yelled as he rowed his boat towards them.

“I am terribly sorry for worrying you, seniors,” the heiress said as she received assistance in climbing onto the boat. “I am perfectly fine.” She quickly helped Diamond get on the boat and looked at her seniors. “But I am afraid that Diamond is hurt. He needs to go to the hospital immediately.”

Red and Yellow sent out their aerial transport Pokémon. Red’s Aerodactyl carried Diamond while Yellow’s Butterfree carried Platinum. The two Sinnoh Dex Holders headed towards the nearest hospital while the two Kanto Dex Holders stayed behind to pack up (equipment, boats, etc).

Luckily, it was determined that Diamond’s injury wasn’t serious and that he’d recover quickly and without worries. Platinum still felt horrible as she believed that it was her fault that he got hurt. She just _had_ to ask Diamond to join her in her fishing trip, she just _had_ to hook a _Gyarados_ , and she just _had_ to be in its mouth… As a result, she chose to stay away from Diamond for a while. She didn’t want to cause any more problems for him.

…

5 days later, Viridian Forest…

…

Platinum wandered through the forest, looking at the lush trees and relaxing in the calm atmosphere. She could hear the stream nearby and headed towards it under the thought of cooling down. When she got close, she could see Yellow lying on the ground beside the stream.

The heiress quickly approached her senior, worried that something bad happened. But as she came close, Yellow turned to look at her. The Kanto Dex Holder sat up and gave her a warm smile as she waved.

“Hi, Platinum,” she said cheerfully.

Realizing that she had been worried for no reason, the heiress smiled and bowed in response. “Hello, senior Yellow.” She sat beside her senior. “May I ask what you were doing?”

“Well, um… I was just relaxing, that’s all,” Yellow replied. She pointed at her fishing rod in the water. “And I’m waiting for a response.” She looked at Platinum and gave her a warm smile. “Hey, do you want to try? You didn’t really catch anything last time.”

The heiress thought for a second. Seeing how she was now near a small stream of water and thus had no chance of catching something as big as a Gyarados, she nodded. Yellow gave her another fishing rod and the heiress excitedly put the hook into the water. Yellow tapped her junior on the shoulder.

“Don’t get too excited,” she said. “Sometimes, fishing can take hours. So… relax.”

The Kanto Dex Holder tilted her hat to cover her eyes from the sunlight and lay down. Platinum looked at her for a second before taking a look around. No one was watching, so the heiress carefully lay down on the grass. Normally, she wouldn’t lie down on the ground at all, but… Platinum noticed that it was strangely comfortable. She looked at the clouds high above and took a deep breath. She felt so relaxed…

…

An hour later…

…

Platinum opened her eyes and yawned. It seemed that she fell asleep in the calm forest. She carefully sat up and looked around. Yellow was still asleep a meter away and… nothing seems to have changed. The heiress stretched and looked at her fishing rod. She was surprised to see it shaking…

“Oh, oh! I have something!” she yelled out excitedly. She took her fishing rod and pulled. But whatever she hooked was quite heavy. But the water wasn’t deep enough for a big Pokémon…

Yellow woke up from the heiress’s excited yell and tried to help her junior. The two girls pulled with all their strength, and soon they managed to successfully pull up whatever the heiress had caught. They were shocked to see that it was…

“… Diamond?” Platinum muttered.

“Hi, Lady…” Diamond said with a wave as he held on to the fishing line. It seemed that he had removed the hook for safety reasons.

“What are you doing here?” the heiress asked as she let go of the fishing rod. Diamond let go as well and climbed out of the water. “And why were you in the water?”

“Well… I just wanted to see you again, Lady,” Diamond said sheepishly. “I heard from Red that you were here in Kanto and… I came to surprise you.”

“Oh, Diamond, you did not have to do that,” Platinum said with an extremely happy smile. Her smile faded and appeared a little worried. “How is your back?” she asked.

“I’m perfectly fine, Lady. The injury’s been completely healed.”

Platinum hugged Diamond. “I am relieved then… And I missed you too, Diamond. Thank you for coming.” She noticed that he was quite cold and pulled back. “How long were you in the water?”

“Half an hour,” Diamond replied. “I came here and you were asleep, so you weren’t going to notice me. So I got in the water so I could surprise you. I thought you’d wake up when I entered the water, but… you… didn’t wake up, so…”

“That wasn’t a well thought-out plan, was it?” Yellow asked with a smile.

Diamond rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh… no, I guess not.”

Platinum rose to her feet. “Well then, come, Diamond. We should find you some dry clothes. Then afterwards… would you like to go to the cape in Route 25 with me?”

“Sure, I’d love to,” Diamond replied. “I came all this way just to see you, after all.”


	13. New Agency - BW

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay.
> 
> This chapter was first uploaded on April 12, 2012.

**Primary: Black & White.**

New Agency:

White sat on a bench and looked straight ahead, lost in deep thought. She was waiting for Black, who was set to arrive anytime. She had called him a few days ago and told him to meet her in Mistralton City, near the airport. There was an opportunity that she could not afford to miss, and it required Black’s presence. It wasn’t urgent, but it was better to take an opportunity as soon as it came up. But of course, that wasn’t the only reason. Traveling alone without a goal was hard, but traveling alone after being with Black for so long was even harder. She missed him, and wanted to travel with him again.

White thought about what she was going to say to Black when he showed up. She knew it was going to be _really_ hard to convince him to take a break from his goal. But perhaps he would agree that this was an opportunity he could not miss or stall. It had been a while since she had last seen him. She wanted to know how much he had changed, and wanted to show him how much she had changed.

Suddenly, someone tapped her shoulder from behind.

“Hey, Miss President!”

White jumped in surprise and quickly looked back. She could see Black standing behind the bench, with what appeared to be ice cream cones in both hands.

“Black!”

“Hi, Miss President. It’s been a while.”

White put her hands over her heart and took a few deep breaths with her eyes closed. “Don’t surprise me like that!” When she opened her eyes, she could see Black holding one of the ice cream cones right in front of her. “… Is that for me?”

“Yep.”

“Oh… thank you.” White took the cone and noticed something about it. “Is this a Casteliacone?”

“Yep. A couple of months ago, you bought me some Casteliacones and I thought I’d return the favor a little,” Black said.

“How did you get these here in Mistralton?” White asked.

“There was a store by the Pokémon Center that sold them. It’s apparently for a very limited time.”

“Oh, okay. Well, thanks again.” White signaled Black to sit with her as she sat on one end of the bench. “Let’s talk, Black. It’s been a while since we last saw each other.”

Black sat beside her. But the moment he did, he noticed a few things about her. Were her eyes always so sharp and piercing? White looked at him, gave a warm smile, and proceeded to lick away at her Casteliacone. Black watched her carefully. It seemed that she was wearing some make up today. How very odd. He had never seen her wear them before, no matter how many times she appeared in front of potential customers. Realizing that he was staring at her, he tried to get her focus away from that fact before she noticed.

“So, Miss President, how’d the Battle Subway go?”

“Oh, it went okay, I guess,” White replied. She seemed a little disappointed by the fact that Black’s first question was related to battling. “I got far enough to battle those two creepy Subway Masters.”

“Wow, really? That’s incredible!” Black exclaimed. “So how do you like battling?”

“It’s actually quite fun,” White said with a smile. “I can see why a lot of people are into it.” She suddenly took a deep breath. “Listen, Black… The reason why I called you over here…”

Recognizing her serious tone, Black stopped licking his Casteliacone. He looked at her and waited for her to continue.

“It’s because I need you,” White blurted out.

Black stared at her. “… What?”

“I – I mean… I’m going to make some changes to the BW Agency, and I really need your help,” she added quickly.

“Okay… what kind of changes?”

White pulled out something from her bag and showed it to Black. The Unova Dex Holder looked at it and noticed that it was the layout of the new advertisement poster for BW Agency.

“ _Turn your Pokémon into a star! Turn your Pokémon into a proficient battler!_... Huh, so you’re going to train other people’s Pokémon?”

“Well… not me. I don’t think I’m ready for that.” She looked at him and after a few seconds, spoke. “I was hoping that… you would lead that part of the BW Agency.”

“Me?” ‘ _So… if I say yes, then I get to stay as her employee, huh?_ ’ “Sure, I guess. I’m still your employee, after all.”

White grabbed his free hand with hers and gave him another smile. “Thank you so much. I’m sure we’ll make a great team!” She let go of his hand and handed him another sheet. “Here, this is our schedule for today.”

Black finished his Casteliacone and took the sheet. He glanced at his watch as he read. “So… there’s an event in a couple of hours in the park about the new program, and…” Black froze as he tried to process the information. “… We’re _leaving_ Unova afterwards?”

“Yes. We are,” White said as she finished her Casteliacone.

“Miss President, you know I can’t do that. I’m still in the middle of my quest to conquer the Pokémon League,” Black said with a troubled look. “I’m really sorry, but I don’t think I can go with you.”

“I know that you’d like to challenge the Pokémon League as soon as possible,” White started. “But this is an opportunity that you wouldn’t want to miss or stall.” She looked at Black’s bag. “That device you were carrying around. It was something called the Pokédex, right?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“You see, I did some research on the Pokédex, and I found out that there are 13 others in other regions who have them, and every single one of them were involved in various cataclysmic events. They’re supposedly very talented trainers who played the most important roles in defeating evil teams and foiling their plots.”

“And what about them?” Black asked with an uninterested expression.

“Some of them have accomplished remarkable feats. One of them successfully gathered all 8 Gym Badges _and_ defeated two evil teams within 80 days, one of them won the Pokémon League at the age of 11, and-”

Black suddenly looked very interested. “Really?”

White smiled. ‘ _Just as I thought…_ ’ “Yes. And I was thinking… because you have a Pokédex too, they’ll be very nice to you and maybe even teach you a few things. And maybe they could teach me to become a better trainer.”

Black jumped to his feet. “All right, then! Let’s hurry up and get your scheduled event over with!” He looked over at White. “It’s just the two of us, right?” The president nodded. “All right then! Let’s go!”

Black proceeded to run towards the park where the event was scheduled to take place. White followed and chose to believe that he sounded happy knowing that he would be going to another region with her and no one else. Relieved that everything had gone according to plan so far, she smiled and thought about what she was going to say in the event.

…

Two hours later…

…

Black stood near the set-up stage in the park, watching White promote her company. Quite a lot of people gathered in the park, as White had distributed the advertisements in populated areas around the city for a couple of days.

“… As I have said, the BW Agency will now start the training program!” White said through the microphone. “But as this is new to the company, we will need a few volunteers to lend us their Pokémon to test out the training process. If the training does not meet your standards, then we guarantee full refund!”

The crowd became noisy with discussion amongst themselves. White waited for a few seconds before she spoke.

“I will now answer any questions regarding the new program.”

“Does this mean that the BW Agency will no longer continue the movie star program?” asked someone in the middle row.

White shook her head. “No, the BW Agency will continue with all of its previous programs and functions. The training program is an addition, not a replacement.”

“Who will train the Pokémon?” asked someone in the front row.

“Ah, good question! Thank you for asking!” White exclaimed. She made a hand signal to someone off-stage and the screen behind her came to life. “Currently, two very talented and famous people have agreed to work with me on this program!” She glanced back at the screen and continued. “One is the current Gym Leader of Nimbasa City, the Shining Beauty, Miss Elesa!”

White then stepped to the side so that she wouldn’t block the video screen. Elesa’s recorded message played on screen and the audience murmured agreements and approvals amongst themselves.

“The other person should be very famous here in Mistralton,” White said once the message ended. “She’s the city’s very own Gym Leader, Miss Skyla!”

The president looked up, and Black (along with everyone else) looked up as well. He could see a jet fly across the sky and pull off several loops and stunts, writing “BW Agency” with the canister filled with sky-writing powder.

The people in the audience started to talk amongst themselves, some astonished by the support of two Gym Leaders. Black simply looked on, wondering why he was leading the new department within the BW Agency when there were two Gym Leaders in it. He figured that they were not full-time employees of the agency. White waited until the crowd settled down before continuing.

“The two Gym Leaders have agreed to train the Pokémon in this program during their spare time and training sessions for Gym Battles. But as the program has just started, we will only accept a few Pokémon at first. Please register your Pokémon with my assistants if you wish to participate in the program. Thank you very much for attending the event!”

White bowed to the audience and turned to give the microphone and a new set of instructions to her assistants. Suddenly, the people in the audience started to shout and scream. The president turned to see what the commotion was about, and so did Black. They could see three Team Plasma grunts and ‘their’ Pokémon (Cryogonal, Maractus, Ferrothorn), glaring at everyone on the stage.

“Pokémon are not tools!” one of them yelled. “You should not use them for profit!”

One of the grunts pointed at White. “Take her down and liberate the Pokémon!”

At that instant, the Cryogonal launched a burst of Ice Shard while Maractus and Ferrothorn shot Pin Missile. The crowd of people gathered for the event started to panic and flee.

Black hastily tried to run towards the Plasma grunts in an attempt to stop them. But he couldn’t make any progress thanks to the tidal wave of people fleeing. Instead, he found himself being pushed back.

On stage, White tried to get out of sight as fast as possible. She would fight back once she was off the stage and everyone else fled. Sure, there were three Plasma grunts, but she was sure that she could take them with Black. But unfortunately for her, she wasn’t given the opportunity. Even as she was turning to run, a single Ice Shard stabbed into her side while two pins from the Pin Missile hit her just below the heart.

Black instantly froze as the girl crumpled to the ground. He snapped back into focus and started to run through the screaming horde of people when the three Plasma grunts started to move closer to her…

“GET OUT OF THE WAY!” Black roared as loud as he could possibly manage. One unfortunate person standing way too close to him started to run the other way, thus creating even more chaos.

White’s assistants quickly rushed to her aid. The girl was gasping for air but she still managed to send out her entire Pokémon team to defend herself.

Black soon managed to fight his way through the horde of people and sent out his entire team to fight the Plasma grunts. He wanted to _destroy_ them, but he couldn’t focus. His eyes kept moving towards the stage, where White was. But luckily for him, several Flying types arrived and started to attack the Plasma grunts. Black looked at them and soon recognized them to as Skyla’s.

The Mistralton Gym Leader was in the process of landing her jet when she thought she saw an Ice Shard being used. Since the event below was a strictly peaceful one, there was no reason for an attack. With her superior eye sight, the Gym Leader saw White collapse on the stage and assumed the worst. She hastily landed the jet (disregarding some safety procedures) and the moment the cockpit hatch opened, sent out her entire team to help.

Seeing Skyla’s team fighting the Plasma grunts, Black got his team to assist while he rushed to White’s side. She wasn’t moving and her eyes were closed.

“Miss President!” he called. “Are you okay?”

“Black… … Pull… it out…” White gasped out.

Black looked at where she was pointing and could see a big shard of ice sticking out of her side.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes…”

Black looked around in panic and spotted one of White’s assistants looking at his boss with a blank look.

“Hey, you!” Black called. “Go call an ambulance!” He then looked at the shard of ice and carefully grabbed it. White gasped and groaned as the slight movement tore her flesh. “Okay… here it comes… I’m really sorry, Miss President.”

Black pulled on the shard of ice as hard as possible and with a loud ripping noise, the shard came loose. He then checked on White’s condition and noticed that she was still conscious. White tried to say that she was okay, but couldn’t. She noticed that she couldn’t move or say anything. Black was asking whether she was okay, but there was no way she could answer. She could only stare and try to stay conscious as Black gently lifted her onto his arms.

“Hang in there, Miss President… you’re going to be okay!” Black said reassuringly.

White couldn’t tell whether his reassurance was directed at her or himself. Her eyes kept closing on their own, even as she tried to keep them open. Eventually, as she rested her head on Black’s chest, she steadily lost consciousness.

…

White groaned as she opened her eyes. She seemed to be in a hospital of some sort… Well, that was understandable. She tried to sit up but felt excruciating pain from her side. As a result, she chose to remain lying on the bed. She then looked around the room to see if there was anyone there. She was all alone, but there was a chair pulled up close to her bed.

‘ _I wonder who was sitting here…_ ’ White thought. ‘ _Could it be Black?_ ’ She looked around for her Xtransceiver so that she may check the time and date. Her eyes opened wide in shock when she saw the date. ‘ _I’ve been out for a whole week?_ ’ She groaned. ‘ _A whole week wasted… I hope the vice president took over my company for the time being…_ ’ With a sigh, she looked over at the chair pulled up beside her. ‘ _There’s no way Black would stay here… Knowing him, he definitely wouldn’t waste a whole week…_ ’

As White pondered about what she was going to do as soon as she was cleared to leave the hospital, the door to her room opened. The president looked over and noticed that Black was in the doorway.

“Hey, Miss President! You’re awake!” he said happily. He quickly walked over and sat on the chair beside the bed. “How are you doing? You okay?”

“… Black?” White muttered, her voice still hoarse. “I didn’t think you would’ve stayed this long…”

“Oh, come on. I wouldn’t leave you at a time like this!” Black said. “Only a complete bastard would do such a thing.”

White smiled and started to laugh a little. She suddenly groaned and put a hand on her side. “Ow… it hurts to laugh…”

“Miss President, you need to take care of yourself,” Black said.

“What happened after I… passed out?”

“Well, the three Plasma bastards got arrested… they’ll be charged with attempted murder. There’s no way out for them. There are hundreds of witnesses. And as for you, the two pins from Pin Missile hit and broke a rib but nothing else. The Ice Shard… punctured a lung. You’ll heal, but not for a while.” Black appeared very worried. “For the time being, you shouldn’t do anything tiring. So you can’t run or anything like that.”

“So… what’s going to happen?” White asked.

“I think you’ll have to stay in the hospital for… at least two weeks, so… I’ll stay with you until you’re better. Then we’ll think of what to do.”

White looked at Black and stayed silent for a short while. “… Black, come close. I want to say something to you before anything else.” When Black did as told, she simply reached over and kissed him.

“… Miss President, what…” Black stammered once the kiss ended.

“Listen… I… love you. I always have. That’s the reason why I called you over to Mistralton and told you that we’re going to another region by ourselves. I want to stay with you. As much as I like the idea of staying with you until I recover, I can’t let you stay here for all that time. You have a goal, and I know how much you’re looking forward to challenging the Pokémon League. So… I can’t let you stay with me.”

“But Miss President, I-”

“Unless,” White interrupted. “… I could go with you. No, scratch that. I _will_ go with you. The jet I borrowed allows me infinite flights within a time span of a month, and considering our return flight, we should take it immediately.”

“Miss President, you’re still really hurt. You can’t leave the hospital for at least a week,” Black argued.

“No, I’ll just consider this to be one of my training tests. I heard that a trainer needs to train him or herself equally as much as their Pokémon. I can’t stay in a hospital for over a week just because of one injury. So Black, as your boss, I’m ordering you to book a flight scheduled to leave Mistralton later today. Preferably after dinner.”

Black simply stared at her, wondering why she was acting so stubborn. A few seconds afterwards, he left her hospital room. Once he was out of the hospital, he sent out his Munna.

“Clear my head,” he said. “I need to think…”

On her bed, White sighed. She didn’t like sounding so… cruel and stubborn. But she felt that it was the only way to ensure that Black would stay with her. She was afraid that Black would leave her once he knew that she would eventually recover. She felt the ambush kiss helped a lot too.

Within an hour, Black returned. He sat on the chair beside the bed and looked at White. The president gave him an apologetic smile for ordering him around.

“So… did you book the flight?” she asked.

“No. I postponed it,” Black answered. “The manager heard from the news that you were attacked by Team Plasma and generously postponed the one-month time frame to a later date.”

“What? Why? How could you?” White demanded.

“Miss President, I think I know why you’re acting like this,” Black said abruptly. “You said you love me, and therefore you want the best for me. You don’t want me to stall in challenging the Pokémon League. And in response to that…” Without warning, he reached over and kissed her. “I love you too, Miss President. And therefore, I want what’s best for you. And the best for you is for you to stay here and recover. As your employee, I’ll stay with you until you recover. Then, we’ll book the flight and go to… wherever.”

“W – Well, if you put it that way,” White stammered. Her cheeks were flushed from embarrassment. “Then… okay. But what are you going to do in the meantime?”

“I’ll train my Pokémon some more, and see what I can think of for that new battling program of the BW Agency. I’m still your employee, after all.”

White smiled brightly. “Thanks Black. I feel much better now.”

“All right then, Miss President. You should get some rest. I’ll be waiting just outside the room. Call me if you need me.”

“Okay…”

Black held her hand for a few seconds before he let go and left the room. Outside, he took out his Munna’s Pokéball and looked at it.

“Oh, what would I do without you?” he asked with a smile. “If you think I did something wrong to Miss President, let me know as soon as possible.”


	14. The Outside World - DPt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The direct sequel of Ao3-SE #008: Rescue.
> 
> This chapter was first uploaded on May 24, 2012.

**Primary: Diamond & Platinum.**

The Outside World:

Platinum watched with interest as Diamond showed her the basics of making a fruit cake. She stayed far away from the knife used to cut the fruits, as she had been attacked with a pair two months ago, and had accidentally cut herself with it (a minor cut) the previous day while attempting to cook. The only thing the heiress did to help in completing the cake was placing the fruits on the icing.

“The cake looks wonderful, Diamond,” Platinum said with a bright smile. “I wish to learn more. Could you come over tomorrow as well?”

“Uh… sure, Lady. But I think it’ll be much easier for you to learn in a simple kitchen, like the one in my house,” Diamond said.

Platinum suddenly looked troubled. “Um… I – I do not think I am ready to leave my home…”

“Take your time, Lady. When you think you’re ready, we’ll take it one step at a time.”

Platinum sighed. “You must think I am pathetic… Pearl certainly thinks so. It had been two months, and I still cannot leave my home.”

“No, no. I understand this kind of thing takes time.”

As Diamond and Platinum continued to talk, the old butler Sebastian entered the (massive) kitchen.

“My Lady, Sir Gold and Lady Crystal are here to see you,” he said after a polite bow.

“Ah, thank you. Please tell my seniors to wait a little longer.”

Platinum and Diamond quickly washed their hands and went to greet their seniors a minute later. Gold and Crystal were standing outside the kitchen, looking at the various art on the walls. The two Johto Dex Holders saw their juniors and waved at them. Diamond waved back and Platinum bowed.

“Seniors, I apologize for making you wait.”

“It’s okay,” Crystal said with a warm smile. “I really like coming here. “Lady Crystal”… I just love hearing that.”

Gold grinned. Looks like he would have to do something about that…

“Seniors, it was my understanding that you were in Snowpoint City. What brings you here?”

“We’re here to make you face your fears,” Gold answered.

Crystal scowled at him for being so damn blunt. “Sorry, Platinum. But we really think it’s time you overcame your fears. You missed out on quite a few Dex Holder meetings and events.”

Platinum looked over at Diamond, wondering if he knew of this. Diamond seemed equally surprised. Before the heiress could say anything, Gold dragged her away from the kitchen and towards the front door. Platinum tried to stall, but to no avail. There was a moveable chair in front of the door and Gold forced her to sit here. Crystal opened the door and Pearl was standing in the doorway.

“Finally,” he said with an aggravated look. “Miss Lady, this is how we’re going to do this. You’re going to say a number that best suits the way you’re feeling. 0 if you’re perfectly calm and normal, and 10 if you’re about to go crazy from nervousness and such.”

“Um… okay. I believe I am at 1 at the moment.”

Crystal started to push the chair forward, with Gold, Diamond, and Pearl surrounding the chair to give Platinum the idea that she’s perfectly protected. The heiress shut her eyes the moment she was outside. The sun was a little too bright… Also, she had just taken her first step (well, not step) out of her mansion in months.

“2…” she muttered.

“It’s okay, Platinum,” Gold said as he took the lead. “I’ll narrate to let you know what’s happening.”

“Gold, that’s not necessary. It’s not like she’s blind,” Crystal said from behind, but the goggled boy ignored her.

“The sun is bright. There is no wind,” Gold started. “It’s getting a little hot, and there are some kids by the street, playing with a ball dangerously close to the road, as if tempting their fate.” He grinned as he continued his ‘helpful’ narration. “Oh? There’s a guy hiding in the trees!”

“5… 5…” Platinum muttered.

“Oh wait, that’s just a Starly.”

“3…”

“There’s a guy coming right for us!” Gold yelled.

“8! 8!”

“Now he’s going away from us!”

“Gold! That’s just a guy jogging!” Crystal yelled from behind.

“6…” Platinum muttered as she looked around fearfully.

Diamond grabbed onto her hand. “It’s okay, Lady. Nothing’s happening. And even if something unexpected happens, we’re here.”

Platinum smiled at him and steadily stopped trembling. “4… 3… 2.”

Diamond let go of her hand now that she was calm. But the moment he did, Platinum started to mutter higher numbers.

“3… 4! 6!”

Diamond quickly grabbed her hand again and sighed in relief when the numbers started to decrease. He looked at her and noticed that she seemed very distressed.

“Maybe we should stop,” he said to Crystal.

“This is for her own good,” she said with a sigh. “We can’t wait forever. She needs to start facing her fears.” She glanced over at Gold and sighed again. “I knew I shouldn’t have brought him here… he’s not helping at all…”

“All is quiet and…” Gold trailed off. “Wait… what the hell is that?”

“5… 6!”

“That buzzing noise… it’s coming closer!” Gold yelled.

“7! 9!”

“There must be a hive of either Beedrill or Combees and Vespiquen nearby. Don’t worry, I’ll set it on fire!” Gold said as he sent out his Typhlosion. “Come, Explotaro!”

Gold ran ahead with the Typhlosion and disappeared into the small forest nearby. As people started to gather to watch the commotion, Platinum started to hyperventilate.

“Take me back! Take me back!” she cried between breaths. “10! 10! 10!”

Crystal swiveled the chair around and started to push it back towards the Berlitz mansion. As Diamond and Pearl followed, Gold ran past them, having accomplished nothing except pissing off all the inhabitants of the now-ablaze hive.

“RUN!” he yelled as a large cluster of Combees chased him.

Platinum shut her eyes and put her hands over her ears as she shouted out increasing numbers.

“13! 17! 43! 100!”

Once the five Dex Holders were back in the mansion, Diamond gently helped Platinum off of her chair and led her towards the cushioned seats in the waiting room. Pearl paced around, thinking of what to do, while Crystal gave Gold a hell of a reprimand for making everything worse.

Pearl suddenly snapped his fingers, as a _brilliant_ idea occurred. Platinum probably wouldn’t think so, but it was for her own good. The hasty Dex Holder walked up to Diamond.

“Hey, Dia, I forgot to tell you. Your mom wants you back home.”

“Why?” Diamond asked.

“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me.”

Diamond looked back and forth between Pearl and Platinum, wondering what he should do. If his mother called him back home but sent Pearl, then it probably wasn’t urgent. Seeing Platinum’s utterly distressed look, he didn’t want to leave either.

“You know, when your mother asks you to return, that generally means that she needs your help with something around the house. So you should probably get going,” Gold said from behind, unknowingly helping Pearl.

Diamond sighed but nodded. “I’m really sorry, Lady,” he said as he looked at Platinum. “But I have to go back.”

“No… Diamond, please stay,” Platinum begged.

“Always listen to your mother,” Crystal said from behind. “No matter how… _weird_ they may be to you.”

“Sorry, Lady,” Diamond said again as he rose to his feet. Platinum grabbed onto him and he had no choice but to gently pull himself away.

Once Diamond left, Platinum curled up into a ball and started to rock back and forth. While Gold stood with a blank expression, Crystal went up to Pearl.

“Okay, so why did you send Dia out of here?” she asked. “I know his mother didn’t call for him, otherwise she would’ve just called him on his Pokégear.”

“Well, I’m thinking that we use a more… _drastic_ measure to cure Miss Lady,” the hasty Dex Holder replied. “Dia definitely wouldn’t support this plan, which is why I sent him out.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“First, we force Miss Lady to go to Dia’s house in Twinleaf. We can do that by… well, basically tying her up to a Pokémon capable of flying, and sending it to Dia’s house. And I guess I’ll do that. She’ll hate me for a while, but once she gets over her fears, she’ll see that it was necessary. Then once we’re at Dia’s house, you and Gold should pretend to leave, thus leaving only me, Dia, and Miss Lady in the house. Then you and Gold will dress up as home invaders or something and pretend to attack me and Dia. Once we pretend to be knocked out, Miss Lady will have no choice but to stand up to you, thus overcoming her fears!”

“That sounds like a poorly thought-out plan,” Crystal said as she slowly shook her head.

“Do you have a better idea?” Pearl asked.

Crystal sighed. “… Let’s do it.”

…

Two hours later, Twinleaf Town…

…

Diamond opened the door to his house and entered. “Mom, I’m home!” he called. Instead of a reply, all he got was Platinum suddenly running up to him. “Lady? What are you doing here? How did you get here?”

The heiress simply hugged him and cried onto his neck. “I – It was horrible…”

Pearl soon appeared in his sight. “Hey, Dia. Uh… in case you’re wondering, your mom’s actually not here. She let us in and then went to Jubilife City to shop.”

Everything fell into place and Diamond looked at Pearl with disbelief. “So… my mom didn’t actually need my help. You only lied to me so you could _kidnap_ the Lady and bring her here?”

“More or less… Dia… no, Diamond, come here. There’s something we need to discuss. Leave Miss Lady there.”

Diamond followed his friend after comforting Platinum for a short while. He listened intently as the hasty Dex Holder began whispering his plan.

“But… wouldn’t that hurt the Lady more?” Diamond asked worriedly. “I mean… I want her to overcome her fears as quickly as possible so we can go to places again, but your plan sounds like it’ll just hurt her and make things worse.”

“Come on, Dia. Situations like this require drastic measures.”

“Well… fine. But if I think she’s too distressed, I’m going to stop the whole thing.”

“Of course.”

A few minutes later, the door (that was unlocked by Pearl) opened and two masked people entered. Diamond and Platinum were currently in the living room, so Pearl went to meet the home invaders. The two invaders raised their masks, revealing themselves as Gold and Crystal.

“Is everything ready?” Crystal asked.

“Yeah, we’re all set,” Pearl answered. “But first…”

The hasty Dex Holder simply collapsed on the ground to pretend as if he’s been knocked out. The two Johto Dex Holders stepped over their junior and entered the living room. To give the impression that they were hostile, they knocked over every non-fragile thing they could see (such as chairs, tables with nothing on them, etc).

Platinum screamed in fear as she hastily ran over to the other side of the room. She stayed as far away as she could from the home invaders as Diamond went up to fight them. The heiress watched in horror as her boyfriend got stabbed by one of the home invaders and dragged out of the living room.

“No, no, no! Diamond!”

Crystal dragged Diamond over to where Pearl is and let the relaxed Dex Holder lie on the floor. Gold had ‘stabbed’ him (a weak punch to the stomach while pretending to hold something small), so as far as Platinum knew, he was either dead or dying.

“This was not a part of the deal!” Diamond whispered.

“Well, change of plans,” Pearl said with a grin. “Now stay quiet. Miss Lady thinks you’re dead.”

Crystal walked into the living room and could see that Platinum was crying in the corner with her face buried in her hands. Gold looked as if he didn’t know what to do next. He attempted to ‘attack’ her, but the moment he took a step forward, Platinum shrieked and cried more sorrowfully.

Gold rubbed the back of his neck, wondering what he should do. Deciding to force the heiress to defend herself, he reached forward and grabbed her by the hair. But all he did was make her start trembling. He didn’t know, but he was repeating the exactly the same steps Platinum’s kidnappers took when they attacked her. They first stabbed the gardener nearby, then they cornered the heiress and then grabbed her hair before hurting her.

Pearl looked into the living room and saw Platinum too scared to do anything. ‘ _This isn’t going according to plan…_ ’

Diamond looked as well, and upon seeing the heiress, he tried to go and help. Pearl quickly grabbed him and put a hand over his mouth to prevent him from saying anything.

“Pearl, do something!” Diamond whispered after moving his friend’s hand.

“Relax, Dia. It’s just like the time she first learned to ride a bicycle,” the hasty Dex Holder whispered back. “Miss Lady responds to shocking and maybe insulting motivations.”

“… What?”

“Watch.” Pearl crawled to the entrance of the living room while pretending to be hurt. “Damn it, Miss Lady!” he yelled out. “Do something! Dia’s dying here!”

“I – I cannot…” Platinum cried out.

“Come on, Miss Lady!” Pearl yelled again. “You can’t be _this_ weak and pathetic!”

Platinum seemed to have been greatly affected by the words and she snapped into focus. ‘ _He is right… I must be strong! For Diamond…_ ’ She clenched her teeth and swatted the home invader’s hand away. She summoned up as much courage and strength she could possibly manage and kicked him between the legs as hard as she could.

Gold groaned as he dropped to the floor. “Ow, son of a b-”

“It… worked, but maybe a bit too much…” Pearl muttered from afar as he watched Platinum lunge towards Crystal.

“Whoa, wait!” Crystal tried to say, but her junior had already kicked her in the stomach and proceeded to punch her in the face. She tried to block, but the wind had been knocked out of her due to the unexpected kick and thus she couldn’t move in time. The punch hit her in the right cheek, but it hurt a _lot_ more than it should, thanks to the large diamond ring on the heiress’s left hand. Crystal collapsed on the floor beside Gold and Platinum began to kick them.

“Miss Lady, stop!” Pearl yelled as he hastily ran over to the heiress.

“Pearl?” Platinum said between breaths. “A – Are you okay?” Before Pearl could answer, she saw Diamond behind him and quickly ran to him. “Diamond!” But seeing how the relaxed Dex Holder wasn’t hurt at all, Platinum appeared confused. “What is going on?”

Crystal groaned as she sat up. She took her mask off and felt around her cheek. There was a big cut there, caused by the diamond ring. “Ungh… Gold, are you okay?”

“No…” the goggled boy groaned out.

Platinum gasped in shock. “Senior Gold? Senior Crystal? The two attackers were… you?”

“Gold… let’s get out of here,” Crystal said. “Let Dia and Pearl explain things…”

…

Two days later, Pallet Town…

…

“You did WHAT?!” Blue yelled at Gold and Crystal. It seemed that Diamond had told her of what the two Johto Dex Holders did in Twinleaf…

“We… um… tried to help Platinum,” Crystal replied quietly while keeping her head down.

“Yeah. I thought it went pretty good,” Gold added. “Except for the part where she… kicked me.”

“You IDIOTS!” Blue yelled. “You only made things worse!” She glared at Crystal. “Crys, I thought you were smarter than that!”

“… Sorry…”

“So the thought of asking _me_ , the only one with experience in overcoming phobias, for help didn’t occur at all?!”

“You were… um… with your family at the time,” Crystal mumbled out. “I know how much you were looking forward to it, so… I… um… thought I could help instead…”

“The only thing you fools managed to do was make Platinum hate you! Now it’s going to be a lot harder to help her cure her phobia!”

“So what are you going to do?”

“ _I’ll_ go and help her. Who knows what’ll happen if I send you two idiots again.”

Crystal bowed as her senior flew away on her Wigglytuff. Once she was gone, Crystal sighed and glared at Gold.

“Thanks a lot, Gold. Now I’m a part of ‘you idiots’.”

…

Two weeks later, Twinleaf Town…

…

Diamond prepared to leave his home so he could visit Platinum again. He heard that Blue had ‘kidnapped’ the heiress to help her get over her phobia and that the heiress had returned the previous day. He wanted to know how Platinum was doing right now, which was why he was going to visit her. But the moment he opened the door and stepped outside, he collided into Platinum, who was just about to knock on the door. Her head hit him on the chin and both Sinnoh Dex Holders took a step backwards to recover from the collision.

“Ow. Lady, are you okay?” Diamond asked as he rubbed his chin.

“Yes, I am fine,” the heiress replied as she placed her hands on her forehead.

“Uh… Lady, how did you get here?” Diamond asked after a second of thought. “Did someone kidnap you here again?”

“No, I came here on my own will.”

“Really? How?”

“Senior Blue helped me to quickly overcome my fears of the outside world. The 12 days I had with her were frightening and horrible, but they were effective.”

“Does that mean we can go to places now?”

“Yes.” Platinum smiled and suddenly bowed to him. “Thank you, Diamond. You are the only one who had shown me unrelenting support through my difficult time. I can honestly say that the two months I had with you in my home were very comforting only because you were there.”

“It’s okay, Lady. I did what I could to make you comfortable. What about Gold, Crystal, and Pearl though? Did you forgive them?”

“Yes. What they did was awful, but they were only trying to help. I cannot believe that Pearl came up with such a terrible idea, and I also cannot believe that senior Crystal agreed to it. But once again, they were only trying to help. I invited them over to my home so that we can have a feast celebrating my recovery. I hope that you can attend as well.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it! When is it?”

“It is in 3 days.”

“No problems, then.” Diamond stepped aside to open the doorway. “So… I was actually going to visit you, but since you’re here, why don’t you come in? Let’s make cake. I’m getting hungry.”

Platinum gave him a warm smile. “You are always hungry, Diamond. I am eager to learn more about cooking, and perhaps the smaller kitchen can teach me the basics much better than at my home.” She took a few steps towards him and hugged him. “Again, thank you Diamond. The outside world is very scary, but if you are there with me, I have nothing to fear.”

* * *

Post Ending:

3 days later, Sandgem Town…

Gold and Crystal waited just outside Platinum’s reading room as the old butler entered to tell the heiress of their presence. While waiting, Crystal noticed that Gold was grinning and occasionally coughing to appear casual.

“What’s so funny, Gold?” Crystal asked.

“Oh, nothing,” the goggled boy replied.

“If this is about Platinum kicking and punching me… it was just a few hits. I wasn’t ready and she was… desperate.”

“No, she was kicking your ass, and you couldn’t do anything about it! But seriously, I wasn’t laughing or anything like that.”

It was obvious that he was lying, so Crystal was about to ask again when she heard the old butler announcing to Platinum inside the room.

“My Lady, the Great Amazing Master Gold and Super Serious Gal are here to see you.”


	15. Solar Eclipse - GC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is two mini-chapters stitched together. The first half was uploaded on July 19, 2012. The second half about a week later.

**Primary: Gold & Crystal.**

Solar Eclipse – Crystal:

“Gold, hurry up! You’re going to miss it!”

“Super Serious Gal, it’s impossible to miss an event that darkens an _entire region_!”

Crystal rolled her eyes in exasperation and waited. The total solar eclipse was going to occur soon, and her idiot boyfriend was still in her house, drinking soda… the soda Crystal originally had planned to serve to the orphans at Earl’s Academy during a field trip. She sighed and looked into the special viewing aid she made just for the occasion. She could see the moon moving ever so slowly to completely cover the sun. It was currently at a partial eclipse, but totality was going to occur very soon.

“GOLD!”

“All right! All right! I’m coming!”

The goggled boy finally came out to the balcony and Crystal glanced at him. To her surprise, Gold wasn’t carrying anything. He was simply staring at the sky, squinting and casting a shadow over his eyes with his hand. It appeared as if he was trying to figure out a way to look at the total eclipse without hurting his eyes. He was even trying to look at the sun while casting a shade over his eyes, which clearly was not going to work.

“… Gold, where’s your viewing aid?” Crystal asked. “You can’t look at a total solar eclipse with the naked eye without consequence.”

“Oh…” Gold muttered. “Perhaps you should’ve told me that a lot sooner.”

“I did tell you! Earlier today when I told you to come here!”

“… Oh…”

Crystal sighed. She glanced into her viewing aid one last time before she gave it to Gold. “Here. Use mine then.”

“Huh? What about you, then?” Gold asked as he received the homemade tool.

“There’ll be another time,” Crystal replied sadly.

“Well… thanks, Crys.”

Gold looked into the tube of the homemade solar eclipse viewer. Crystal cast a shade over her eyes and looked away from the sun + moon. Just as she looked down, the whole world seemed to be getting darker.

“And we have totality…” Crystal muttered out.

“Whoa. This looks so damn cool!” Gold yelled out.

Crystal tried her best to continue staring at the boring-as-hell floor of her balcony. But eventually, she gave in to curiosity. She decided to take a brief, brief look.

“I can’t miss an opportunity like this,” she whispered to herself as she looked up.

Instantly, the uncommon natural phenomenon took her breath away. It was absolutely beautiful and the visible solar flares and other hidden occurrences caused her to forget about looking away in time. Within a few seconds, the moon’s positioning no longer blocked out the sun completely and the first light hit Crystal’s eyes hard…

…

Three hours later…

…

Gold slowly led Crystal out of the Violet City hospital. According to the doctors, the first light of the sun had damaged Crystal’s retinas and she would have to rest them for two weeks in order to recover. As a result, the girl had thick bandages wrapped over her eyes to prevent any light from entering.

“Hey Crys, you doing okay?” Gold asked as he let go of Crystal’s hands.

“No, no! Where’d you go?” Crystal asked as she outstretched her arms and tried to grab onto him again. “Come on, Gold! This isn’t funny!”

“Actually, it is a little,” Gold said from somewhere. “All this time, you always said that I was of no help to you. But here you are, completely helpless. And it’s up to me to help you out.”

“Gold, come on! Stop being such a jerk!” Crystal swung her hands around so that she wouldn’t run into any obstacles. But as she turned, she collided into a street lamp. “Ow!”

“Are you hurt?” came Gold’s rather amused voice from somewhere.

“Just my pride…” Crystal replied. “I feel like an idiot running into street lamps.”

“Tell you what, Crys. If you can find me, I’ll help you out.”

Crystal felt something touch her hand and she grasped it. It felt like a handle of some sort… She investigated it with her other hand and realized that it was Gold’s fully extended billiard cue. Crystal grabbed onto the handle hard and used the tip of the cue to tap the ground below. With the cue, she explored directly ahead. The tip soon hit something quite soft compared to the ground. It felt like leather or rubber. Crystal moved the cue left and right and felt something similar to the left of the obstacle. She smiled. She knew what the cue was touching. She moved the tip of the cue to the middle of the two similar obstacles and without warning, lifted the tip as fast and hard as she could until it came to a sudden stop.

Crystal had concluded that the two similar obstacles were actually Gold’s shoes. So when she raised the tip of the indestructible billiard cue between the goggled boy’s feet, the tip of the cue struck him right where it hurts the most. Upon hearing Gold groan in pain, Crystal started to laugh.

“It looks like I found you, jerk.”

“Not fair,” Gold groaned out. “I was only kidding around…”

Crystal huffed in indignation. “ _I_ wasn’t kidding.” She began to tap her way forward with the billiard cue. “At any rate, I don’t need you anymore, Gold. Emerald and Platinum are working at Earl’s Academy. They’ll help me for sure.” She started to walk but stopped a few steps later. She turned around to face Gold’s direction. “… Where’s Earl’s Academy?”

“Crys, I’m over here,” came Gold’s voice from the right.

Crystal quickly adjusted her position accordingly. ‘ _Damn it… how embarrassing…_ ’ “Right. Well? Where’s Earl’s Academy?”

“That’s a good question,” Gold said as he took a look around. “I’ve never been there to my recollection, so I have no clue.”

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” Crystal exclaimed. She swung the billiard cue around in an attempt to hit Gold, but missed.

Gold quickly grabbed her hand and tried to calm her down. “Come on, Crys. I’ll take you home.”

“Go away, Gold. You’re never any help.”

Crystal fell silent when he suddenly decided to kiss her. “Aw, don’t be like that, Crys. You know I’ll take care of you when you need help. And if I don’t, you can beat the hell out of me with my cue.”

“Deal.” Crystal grinned. “So, does this mean that you’ll have to do whatever I tell you to?”

“I guess. But I know you won’t abuse that pow-”

“Good. The moment we get home, you’re going to get me a glass of water. Then you’ll have to make me dinner, and it had better be good. Then afterwards, you’re going to have to do the dishes. And call Platinum over. She’s going to have to do my research report for me.”

“… So you _are_ going to abuse the power?” Gold asked.

“Oh, _maliciously_. This is going to be _so_ much fun.” Crystal reached forward and her fingers soon made contact with Gold’s face. She felt around a little and after a few seconds, reached over and kissed him on the mouth. “But don’t worry so much, Gold. I’ll reward you.”

Gold grinned. “Well then, let’s get going!”

* * *

 

Solar Eclipse – Gold:

“Hey, Crys! You want to hurry the hell up?”

“Just a minute, Gold! Besides, it’s basically impossible to miss an event that darkens an entire region!”

Gold simply shrugged and stared into the homemade viewing aid specially made for the eclipse. Well, Crystal made it for him, as he had absolutely no idea how to make one. From the projected image, he could see the moon slowly moving to cover the sun completely. And apparently, the moment before and after the ‘totality’ was dangerous for the naked eye.

Gold turned around and could see Crystal finally coming out. But she looked rather sad and was empty handed.

“Hey Crys, where’s your… whatever this thing’s called?” Gold asked as he pointed at his homemade tool.

“Emerald has it,” Crystal answered with a sullen expression.

“Why?”

“Some of the orphans at Earl’s Academy broke their viewing aids. I tried to remake as many as I could, but there’s not enough time. I managed to replace all of them except Emerald’s, so… I just gave him mine.”

“Couldn’t you have just told them to share?” Gold asked.

“I could have, but… no. A total solar eclipse is an extremely rare but beautiful occurrence. If I make the orphans share, that’ll hinder their once-in-a-lifetime experience. I can’t let that happen.”

With a sigh, Crystal cast a shade over her eyes and stared at the floor of the balcony. Gold looked at her and glanced at his solar eclipse viewer. After a short moment of thought, he put the tool in front of Crystal’s eyes.

“Here, Crys. Use mine then. Well, it was technically yours to begin with.”

Crystal looked very surprised. “Huh? What about you?”

“I’ll be fine. A total solar eclipse is an extremely rare but beautiful occurrence, and I can’t let you miss that kind of event, now can I?” Gold reached over and kissed his girlfriend. “Besides, I know how much you’ve been looking forward to this moment.”

Crystal blushed and sheepishly accepted the viewing tool. “Thanks, Gold. I really appreciate it.”

Within a couple of minutes, the totality occurred. Seemingly the entire region of Johto was darkened, and Crystal was instantly lost in the spectacular phenomenon. Gold kept his eyes down, but before long, he looked up to see what was so amazing about a total solar eclipse.

“Whoa…” Gold muttered. He too, was captivated by the beauty of the rare occurrence. “Cool…” But as he stared into the sun + moon, the moon slightly shifted position and the first light of the sun and the reflected sunlight from the moon hit Gold’s eyes hard. “Whoa! Not cool!”

…

Three hours later…

…

“Are you okay there, Gold?” came Crystal’s worried voice as she led him out of the Violet City hospital.

“Yeah, I’m doing perfectly fine,” Gold replied, but he stubbed his toe on the open door frame of the hospital. “Ow! Son of a b-”

“Gold, don’t swear. Emerald and Platinum are right here,” Crystal said sternly. “Hi, Emerald, Platinum. You two saw the total solar eclipse, right?”

“Of course,” Emerald replied. “We had some… hard time making sure the other kids didn’t stare directly at it, but… everyone’s eyes are accounted for.”

“The eclipse was absolutely beautiful,” Platinum said. “But senior Gold, are you okay? I have heard what happened.”

“I’m fine. This is only temporary,” Gold answered as he turned to face his junior.

“Senior? I am over here,” came Platinum’s voice from the left.

“Damn,” Gold muttered. He turned accordingly. “Well, I’ll get used to it.”

“I hope you recover soon, senior,” Platinum said after a polite bow.

Emerald approached Crystal and began whispering in her ear. “Well, now that he’s temporarily blind, I guess he won’t be bothering you as much. He can’t really pull pranks and jokes on you if he can’t see.”

Crystal sighed and whispered back. “I don’t know about that. Since he’s blind, I’ll probably have to help him with everything. If anything, he’ll bother me more than ever.”

“… Good luck then.”

Crystal waved her two juniors goodbye and led Gold back to her house. The doctors said that Gold would have to rest his eyes for two weeks and as such, the goggled boy had bandage wrapped tightly over his eyes. Which meant that Gold would be completely helpless on his own, which also meant that he was going to have to stay at Crystal’s house and she would have to take care of him all day, every day.

…

Two days later…

…

Gold woke up from his nap and sat up. For some reason, Crystal wasn’t around him, so he decided to find her. He rose to his feet and started to walk. He was in Crystal’s room upstairs, so he decided to find his way downstairs to the living room. He took several steps and ran smack into the wall.

“Ow… f*cking wall!” he groaned. He stretched his arms forward and proceeded to feel his way around. He soon found the threshold and proceeded through. Eventually, he managed to go downstairs and to the living room without falling or hitting anything.

Once he was clear of the stairs, he stretched his arms forward again and slowly started to walk. Before long, his fingers came in contact with something… soft.

‘ _What the hell is that?_ ’ he thought as he examined the unknown obstacle. ‘ _It’s soft… sort of round, bigger than my fist… Oh, there’s another one right beside. It kind of feels like a girl’s… Oh._ ’ Gold immediately pulled his hands back, but couldn’t help grinning. “Sorry, Crys,” he said with a laugh. “I obviously didn’t see you there. You can’t blame me for what happened! I’m blind, remember.” He didn’t get any response, and he began to feel dread. “… You _are_ Crys, right?” But to his surprise and horror…

“No,” came _Blue_ ’s grim voice.

‘ _Oh, sh*t!_ ’ Gold instantly spun around. “Look, Silver! I’m blind right now. I didn’t see senior Blue, and… Just don’t kill me, man! I’m handicapped right now! I can’t be held responsible for what I do!” He then spun around again and begged to Blue. “Please don’t tell senior Red about this. He’ll kill me for sure.”

Blue started to laugh. “Oh, Gold, you should see the look on your face! It’s priceless!”

“Huh?”

“Gold, relax,” came Crystal’s voice. “Blue was just… having fun. It was me that you… _touched_.”

“Oh…” The goggled boy let out a sigh of relief. “Whew… So Silver’s not going to murder me.”

“Relax, Gold,” Blue said with another laugh. “And Silver’s not here, by the way. I just came to see how Crys was doing now that she has to babysit you 24/7.”

“Oh, Super Serious Gal’s been a great help. She’s been feeding me and she’s basically doing everything I tell her to do.”

Blue looked over at Crystal and noticed that she looked awfully tired. “I see. Well you should thank her, Gold. Because I think you’re driving her mad.”

“All right then. I have the perfect way of thanking her!” Gold said. He turned to face Crystal, embraced her tight and after a touching around her face with his hand, kissed her on the lips. “Thanks, Crys.” He kept his tight embrace and rubbed her back with his hands. “… You _are_ Crys, right?”

“This time, it’s _really_ not Crys,” Blue said with a sigh.

“Ah, damn it!” Gold exclaimed as he quickly backed off. “You’re not going to tell Silver or senior Red, right? This was purely an accident.”

Blue crossed her arms and cleared her throat. She sounded rather disgruntled. “We’ll see, Gold.”

“Okay… I’m just going to stand perfectly still and not do anything,” Gold said after a nervous gulp.

Blue sighed again and wiped around her lips with a tissue. “Crys… Have fun. I’ll see you later.”

Gold remained perfectly still until he heard the door open and close. “… Is she gone?” he asked. “… Crys?”

“Yes, she’s gone,” Crystal said.

“Oh, good,” Gold said as he exhaled the breath he’s been holding. “Whew… no more misunderstandings…” Without warning, Crystal slapped him. “Ow! Crys, what the hell?”

“Take a guess, genius,” Crystal growled out.

“Look, if this is about me… touching you, I didn’t see you. I’m _blind_. I backed away the moment I realized what was happening. I would never do such a thing to you on purpose.”

“Then explain that stupid grin, you pig.”

“It was just… funny! I mean… what are the odds of that happening?”

“Fine, I’ll let that slide. But what bothers me is that you didn’t realize that you were hugging and kissing Blue until she said so!” Crystal yelled as she crossed her arms and turned away.

“Hey, come on! I’m blind here! How many times do I have to say it? And I’m sorry, Crys. I realized something was odd, which was why I asked whether I was actually hugging you.”

“When did you realize that?”

“When I kissed her. It felt… different from whenever I kissed you. And the hug felt a little different.”

Crystal sighed but lightened her expression. “All right then, I’ll just have to refresh your memory and make you remember.” She gently hugged Gold and kissed him. “And don’t you forget me.”

Gold gave her another ‘stupid’ grin. “Oh, I won’t.”

“Good.” Crystal grabbed Gold by the wrist and began to drag him towards the living room. “Now come, Gold. We have to think of what to do in case Blue really does tell Silver and Red about what happened.”


	16. The Start of Something - GC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter of the original SE. This was first uploaded on July 9, 2013.  
> This chapter contains multiple pairings in focus, but most focus goes to Gold & Crystal.

**Primary: Gold & Crystal.**

The Start of Something:

**Ruby & Sapphire…**

“How’d I get involved in this…” Ruby mumbled as he stared at the battlefield. Somehow, he was dragged into a Double Battle against Gold and Emerald. And of course, Sapphire was his partner.

“My birthday wish, remember?” Sapphire said with a grin. “You said you’d let me do whatever I wanted for my birthday, as long as it was reasonable. You deemed this to be reasonable.”

“But did you have to add a stipulation for the losers? What is that stipulation anyways?”

“Blue suggested it,” Sapphire said. “The losing team has to kiss.”

“Wait, what?” Ruby said in disbelief.

“Wait, what?!” Gold and Emerald yelled at the same time. The two boys glanced at each other before focusing on the battle. “Oh, hell no! We can’t lose!”

“I can’t lose either!” Ruby yelled out.

Sapphire glared at him. “What? Am I not good enough for you?!”

“Can’t you come up with a _normal_ stipulation?” Ruby argued. “Like… being tossed into the ocean?”

“No! I’ve been planning this for a while now!”

“So this is your super-genius plan?”

“Yep! It took me many years, but I’ll finally find out if you’ve been lying the whole time!”

“How would you know? I could kiss you but still not like you.”

“Well then, I’ll just have to wait another year and plan something else!”

“What if I just skipped your birthdays?”

“I live next door from you. You can’t ignore me forever!”

Emerald groaned and rolled his eyes. “Would you two just stop flirting in public?!”

“Just get a damn room and work it out!” Gold added. “I’ll send you there!”

“What does that even mean?” Sapphire asked.

“You know, go into a room with no one else and you-”

“Too much information!” Emerald yelled out. “Let’s just focus on winning this damn thing!”

Sapphire suddenly withdrew her Blaziken. Gold and Emerald took this opportunity to blast Ruby’s Swampert.

“You know what this means!” Sapphire said as she grinned at Ruby. Knowing what was going to happen, she quickly took out the length of vine she always carried around in her bag. As expected, Ruby returned his Swampert and started to run like hell. “The hell you do!” With the vine, she dragged the fleeing Dex Holder back towards her and then tied his legs together.

“Sapphire, what are you doing?”

Sapphire pushed Ruby down to the _dirty_ ground. He couldn’t get up now that his legs were tied together. The girl grinned and jumped on top of him.

“You know what’s coming!”

Gold and Emerald both turned away.

“I don’t need to see this! Too much information!” Emerald yelled out.

“And I told you to get a damn room!” Gold yelled as well. “Public indecency, I tell you!”

Sapphire watched Gold and Emerald walk away before turning her attention to Ruby. “Ready?”

Ruby shrugged. “Sure.”

Sapphire crossed her arms. “You’re suddenly calm about this? You were struggling _pretty_ hard until now.”

“Considering how I’m lying on the horribly dirty ground with my newly washed clothes, with my legs tied, and a girl sitting on top of me in the _middle of a route_ in broad daylight, the last thing I want to do is drag this out.” Ruby then smiled at her in a way that made her blush. “Besides, kissing a pretty girl like you to get out of this situation isn’t bad. It’s like hitting two birds with one stone, really.”

“Oh, now you’re just feigning interest to get out of this situation,” Sapphire said with a half-pout. “And flattery doesn’t convince me, pal. You know what? I don’t think I’ll let you kiss me quite yet. Not until you can prove that you really do like me.”

“Oh, come on, Sapphire. Just let me up and I’ll kiss you then.”

“No.”

“… I think something’s moving under my back. … Yep. Something’s _definitely_ moving. Let me up! Let me up! Let me up!”

“No! No! No!”

“Please let me up? I’ll kiss you once every week!”

“And I have any guarantees?”

“You know where I live. You’ll kill me in my sleep if I don’t keep this promise… extenuating circumstances aside, that is.”

Sapphire looked away and thought for a few seconds while Ruby kept squirming. “… All right. But I’ll beat your ass if this is a lie.”

“… That sounded wrong, especially given the context.”

“… I noticed.”

Sapphire got off of Ruby and then pulled him off the ground by the collar of his shirt, much to his dismay. He complained about his stylish shirt being stretched out while she untied the vine binding his legs together.

“Now,” Ruby started the moment Sapphire finished untying. “The only thing left to do is… run!”

“You son of a-”

Ruby didn’t run though. He took one step before turning to face her again with a smile. “I’m just kidding. I’ll keep my word, starting today.”

Sapphire crossed her arms. “Really? For a second there, I really was thinking of ways to kill-”

Ruby leaned in and kissed her on the lips. An act that actually surprised her. But she enjoyed it.

“… Wow… Thanks,” she said as she blushed. “So… I guess that was my first kiss?”

Ruby smirked. “That has got to be the weirdest first kiss in history. Not that it was bad, mind you.”

“How about… we change this into a daily thing?” Sapphire suggested nervously.

“Sure, why not,” Ruby said with a warm smile. “We can have our first official date tomorrow night.”

Sapphire slightly narrowed her eyes. “Wait, why are you so eager about this all of a sudden? You spent _years_ avoiding this topic.”

Ruby let out a short laugh. “If I told you I liked you from the beginning, you wouldn’t have tried so hard to get me to love you, now would you?” He then gave her a wink that made her slightly weak in the knees before he started to walk away.

Sapphire smiled brightly and followed. “Ruby, you devious jerk…”

…

**Rakutsu & Faitsu…**

Aspertia City, 9 pm…

All the dorm room doors looked the damn same. He thought the female dorms were different, but apparently not. Figures. Identical features, just like uniforms. Of course, _she_ would know all about that. Hugh checked the piece of paper he had in his hand. Room number 345. That was his target.

The moment he arrived in front of the door, he promptly kicked it open. He immediately spotted a girl he never saw before kissing a boy he also never saw before. Both the girl and the boy looked over at him in surprise.

“… Oops. Wrong door. My bad,” Hugh said as he awkwardly proceeded to close the door again. “I saw nothing, by the way.”

He closed the door, ignored the fact that it was still broken, and checked his sheet of paper. Damn, the 3 at the end looked like a 5. The room was 343. He moved down to the next door, and kicked that one open. Again, wrong door. Damn. That first 5 looked like a 3. So the _real_ room was 543. Stupid messy writing…

Hugh quickly climbed two floors after apologizing countless times to the people he disturbed. Hoping that he got the right door this time, he kicked open the door to room 543. Yep. He got the right door this time. Third time’s the charm, apparently.

He spotted her sitting on her desk, looking over at his direction in shock. She seemed to have understood the situation based on his expression.

“Hugh…” she began. She started to tremble and her eyes were wide open in terror.

Hugh ignored her. He needed proof first. He didn’t really believe what he knew. Not yet. He looked around the room first. He clenched his teeth and his hands into fists when he saw the girl’s open closet. There was a Team Plasma uniform in there.

“Hugh,” the girl said again, trying her best to calm him down. “L – Listen to me…”

Hugh turned to glare at her. “… Faitsu… you… You’re Plasma?”

“I know you hate Team Plasma,” the girl stammered out. “But listen, I-”

Hugh didn’t listen to her. He stepped towards her and lifted her up to her feet by the collar of her shirt.

“Where’s my sister’s Purrloin?!” he demanded in anger. “Where?!”

“I – I don’t know!” Faitsu cried out.

“Liar! Where is it?!”

“I – I told you, I-” the girl was interrupted by a strike across her cheek. “Ah!”

Hugh gritted his teeth as he now held the girl by her throat. “Now I see why you kept defending Team Plasma whenever we talked…”

Faitsu looked into Hugh’s eyes and saw the burning hatred. She clenched her eyes shut and braced herself. There was no point in talking anymore. She knew that Hugh was always a bit on the reckless side, especially when compared to _him_. But right now, he had his irrational anger. Talking wasn’t going to accomplish anything except give him a reason to hit her again.

…

“Hey! Rakutsu! Help!”

“Hm?”

Rakutsu glanced over and saw one of his classmates hastily running over towards him. The classmate looked quite panicked.

“You need to stop Hugh!”

“Huh?”

The classmate took a few seconds to catch his breath. “He’s gone crazy! He charged over to the girls’ dorm to find Faitsu! He says he has proof that she’s a part of Team Plasma!”

Rakutsu blinked. “…Oh, no…” He quickly ran towards the girls’ dorm. If Faitsu really was a part of Team Plasma… damn. Of course, he already read the reports. He just didn’t want to believe it.

…

When Rakutsu arrived at Faitsu’s room, Hugh was still in the middle of his rage-interrogation. He still looked enraged, even though he already seemed to have destroyed most of everything in the room. Faitsu was on her knees, her cheeks bruised and bleeding a little from the mouth.

“Tell me who has my sister’s Purrloin!” Hugh demanded.

Faitsu didn’t say anything. She still had her eyes shut. When she felt his fist rise, she visibly flinched and moved her arms to protect herself. Rakutsu quickly grabbed onto Hugh’s arm.

“Stop!” he yelled. “She doesn’t know!”

“You can’t trust Team Plasma!” Hugh yelled angrily.

Rakutsu glanced around and spotted the Team Plasma uniform belonging to the girl. He looked over at Faitsu, who had opened her eyes but was avoiding eye contact with him.

“… Still, she’s our friend, Hugh. We’ve known her for a few months now. She has no ill intention towards anyone.”

“Intention? Some of the world’s worst decisions are made with the best intentions! She may not have been directly involved, but she’s still Plasma! I’ll never forgive anyone in that group!”

“Hugh, I’ll take care of this,” Rakutsu said. “You’re just going to make everything worse. If teacher Cheren finds out about this, you’re doomed.”

“That’s not important!” Hugh then glared at Rakutsu. “Besides, how can you trust someone who’s been hiding her true identity this whole time?!”

Rakutsu let out a long sigh. “Bloody hell. What makes you think that she’s the only one?” he muttered quietly. Both Hugh and Faitsu looked at him in shock. Rakutsu sighed again as he took out his proof of identity. “You’re making my job quite difficult, Hugh. But I am _ordering_ you to back off and let me handle this.”

Hugh looked at the proof of identity Rakutsu was holding over his face. “… International Police? … Seriously?”

Faitsu quickly looked away and put her hands over her face. Rakutsu put his ID away.

“Yeah. Just don’t… tell anyone, all right? If people find out, they’ll all stay away from me. I would be fine with that, but if all the girls stay away me too, then we have a problem.” He grabbed Faitsu by her hand and pulled her up to her feet. “Now then. I’ll go take care of this. Hugh, you… uh… I don’t know. Hide in your room? You need to be able to deny the fact that you were here kicking down doors. Not helping your case if you… you know, stay right here.”

Rakutsu then proceeded to drag Faitsu out of the room and towards the closest elevator. Luckily for him, there wasn’t a crowd gathered outside the room. Only a small handful of girls seemed to wonder what the ruckus was about. But they all quickly scattered away when Rakutsu told them to. They must’ve heard of his identity now. Damn.

In the elevator, Faitsu kept her eyes on the floor while facing away from Rakutsu. He looked at her expression, trying to see what she was feeling right now.

“So…” he started in an effort to end the horribly awkward silence. “… Do you ever notice that no matter what direction you’re going, no matter who you’re with and where, elevator rides are always dreadfully awkward?”

Faitsu still didn’t say anything. The dreadfully awkward silence continued. She took a glance at him once during the ride. She always thought he was charming. And a little flirty. But right now, he looked quite intimidating. He didn’t seem like the Rakutsu she knew. Then again, she supposed that she never really knew him at all.

Rakutsu took her to Aspertia Outlook. He set her down on one of the benches while he leaned over the railing to look at the darkened Route 19. He couldn’t see crap thanks to the no-sun problem. And the moon was covered by clouds. But still, he looked ahead, staring at the only street lamp in Route 19.

“… Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked after a minute of silence.

“… The same reason why you didn’t tell me,” Faitsu replied at last.

“Why did you come to this school?”

“… So I could have a normal life outside Team Plasma.”

Rakutsu sighed and slammed a fist onto the handrail. “Why did it have to be you? Why you? Why not one of those other girls? I came to this school because I heard that a Team Plasma member would be attending it. Why did that member have to be you?! I wouldn’t have any problems if Ruri was a Plasma member. But why you?!”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t think this could happen.”

“I always thought you were a good friend. … Why is it you?! Damn it!”

“… Are you going to arrest me?”

Rakutsu let out another explosive sigh. “… Yes. I have no choice.” He slowly turned around, half expecting Faitsu to be gone. But she was standing behind him, with her arms stretched towards him, just waiting for him to handcuff her wrists. Damn it, she should’ve run.

“For whatever it’s worth,” she began quietly. “I’m sorry this had to happen. I always thought you were a great friend as well. And tell Hugh that I really don’t know anything about his sister’s Purrloin. I don’t blame him at all for what happened tonight.”

Rakutsu stared at her wrists, but didn’t do anything. “Damn it…”

“Just hurry. You said you have no choice. I don’t want to give you any more problems.”

“I… really have no choice,” he said. He looked at her and noticed the tears welling in her eyes. She could see the tears in his eyes as well and looked down in shame. “… No…”

Faitsu perked up. “What?”

“No. I’m not going to arrest you.”

“Why not?”

“I just… can’t.” Rakutsu sighed again and gently held onto her hands. “Listen. I don’t know how much you know about Team Plasma. Right now, we have to arrest all of you. But reports say that there are two distinct Team Plasma factions. One behaves exactly like the Team Plasma from two years ago. The other opposes them and supports the right ideals. I don’t know the exact details, and I don’t know which faction you are. So go. The only way you’ll escape imprisonment is if you are really a part of the good Team Plasma. If not… please don’t get caught by me. If you get caught again, there really is nothing I can do for you.” He then took out his wallet and gave her all the money he had. “Here. Not sure if you need this or not, but it can’t hurt.”

Faitsu took the money with trembling hands. She wiped away the forming tears and bowed to him in gratitude. “… Thank you. Thank you so much. I won’t ever forget this.”

She looked into his eyes for a split second before she started to climb down the stairs. Rakutsu sadly watched her move farther away.

“Goodbye, Faitsu,” he said. “Even if you are a part of the good Team Plasma, we will not meet again. I can’t see you again. I’m ignoring my orders right now by releasing you. I will probably be reassigned elsewhere for this. So take good care of yourself.”

Faitsu suddenly stopped and began to run up the stairs again. Rakutsu watched her in disbelief. Before he even knew what to say, she was standing in front of him once more.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “Run! Get out of here before it’s t-” Rakutsu was cut off by Faitsu suddenly pressing her lips onto his for a kiss. Even when she backed away again, he remained frozen, simply blinking repeatedly with a blank look.

“This isn’t goodbye,” Faitsu said in a half-whisper, looking into his eyes with her watery blue ones. “We’ll meet again. I promise. And when we do, I’ll repay this debt.”

She smiled at him for a short moment before she ran down the stairs again. Rakutsu watched her once again, but with a smile this time. He kept his eyes on her as she headed towards Route 19. She occasionally glanced back at the Outlook as she ran, as if she really didn’t want to go. But eventually, she disappeared from his sight.

“… I’ll look forward to that meeting, then,” Rakutsu muttered. “With a bouquet of Gracidea Flowers, no less. … If I can afford it now. We’ll see.”

…

**Black & White…**

White stared at the one thing she hated most. Ferris wheel. She didn’t know why though. She knew about N’s childhood and his past. Even her Tepig had returned. Technically. She now had no reason to hate the Ferris wheel, but she hated it anyways. It was irrational. So she asked Black about it, after somehow coming to the conclusion that an irrationally reckless person would have the answers to irrational things. Turns out, he hadn’t a clue. Damn. Well, it was a stupid theory, anyways. Pretty irrational. So it was irrational to ask an irrational person about irrational perks. … Huh. Who would’ve figured.

“Come on, Miss President,” Black said from the side, snapping White out of her thoughts. “You can’t stand in front of this thing forever. There’s a line behind us.”

White glanced backwards and saw a line of impatient looking couples, tapping their feet against the ground in frustration.

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

“I promise you won’t fall off this time,” Black said. “I’ll catch you if you do. But you won’t.”

“Yeah…”

The two Unova Dex Holders entered the Ferris wheel and took their seats. Black sat beside White so that he may be able to comfort her. If necessary.

As the Ferris wheel car started to rise into the air, Black felt White starting to tense. He looked at her and noticed that she had her eyes shut and was clenching her fists and teeth.

“You okay, Miss President?”

White quickly opened her eyes. “Y – Yeah… I was just… reminded of… _that_ incident.”

Black glanced out through the window. “So… Is this the height where you fell off?”

White looked outside the Ferris wheel car. “No. It was a little higher. Above the street lamps.”

“Wow. That’s quite a fall. Are you all right?”

White managed to smile as she looked over at Black. “Well… I wasn’t back then, but yeah. I’m fine now. It was over a year ago.”

Black rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly. “Oh, right. Hehehe…”

As the Ferris wheel car reached half of the maximum height, White began to shake as the memories returned. Black saw her shake and grabbed onto her hand.

“It’s okay, Miss President,” he said nicely.

“Thanks. I feel much better just knowing that you’re here,” White said timidly. She felt quite embarrassed for being so honest, but Black didn’t seem to notice.

Within a couple of minutes, the Ferris wheel reached the maximum height and stopped. Both Unova Dex Holders looked through the windows to see the sights.

“So… this is quite nice, huh?” Black said. “Nothing bad is happening.”

White smiled as she saw the spectacular sight of nighttime Nimbasa. “Yeah… it’s so beautiful. I was really… sad that I couldn’t come here to see this sight before.” She let out a content sigh and rested her head against Black’s shoulder. “Thank you so much for coming here with me.”

Black blushed a little and leaned his head a little against hers. “You’re welcome, Miss President. Any time you need me, you know I’ll be there to help you.”

“Black, do you… like me?” White asked all of a sudden.

“Wh – Why do you ask?”

“You take care of me so much, you know? I really like you, Black. And I was just curious.”

“Well, Miss President,” Black stammered out. “I really do l-”

Just as he spoke, he turned to look at White. The girl was turning to look at him at the same time. And before either Unova Dex Holder knew what was about to happen, their lips met in a completely accidental kiss. Both Dex Holders immediately pulled back in embarrassment at first, but just as quickly, leaned forward once again for a proper kiss this time.

The two remained kissing each other until the Ferris wheel car stopped at the bottom. The two Dex Holders got off the Ferris wheel while still holding each other’s hand, looking perfectly happy.

“Thank you so much for tonight, Black,” White said after a content sigh. “I really had fun.”

“Me too,” Black said.

“So can we do this again tomorrow?” White asked rather sheepishly.

Black grinned. “Why wait until tomorrow? Let’s go again right now!”

He dragged White back towards the Ferris wheel and entered the Ferris wheel car again, thereby cutting in front of everyone who was waiting in line. White simply giggled in joy and took her seat next to Black. The two Unova Dex Holders looked at each other and smiled when the Ferris wheel started to move again.

…

**Diamond & Platinum…**

“They say that a first kiss is always in the middle of a sentence.”

Blue said that to Platinum at one point. And ever since then, the heiress was nervous whenever she was around Diamond. Sure, she loved him. And he loved her. But both Sinnoh Dex Holders were afraid to express their feelings. With Blue’s ‘advice’ in mind, Platinum couldn’t quite decide if she wanted to talk in front of Diamond.

If a first kiss is always in the middle of a sentence, does that mean she should constantly talk in order to ‘prompt’ Diamond to kiss her?

According to Blue, yes. Apparently, when a girl talks nonstop, most guys would want to shut her up by kissing her. But Platinum knew that Diamond wasn’t that type. Knowing him, he’d wait forever until she stopped talking on her own. If Diamond kissed her then, wouldn’t that technically mean that the kiss wasn’t really a first kiss? Then again, that claim was binary. It was either true or false, with nothing in between. If there was a single counter-proof, then that statement would be mathematically false. And Platinum had no intention of being that counter-proof.

So, if Diamond wasn’t going to ever interrupt her with a kiss, did that mean she had to do it to him? That would be very hard. Platinum didn’t think that she would be able to kiss him first. Even just thinking about it would turn her into a nervous wreck. And Diamond was very good at detecting emotions. If he realized what she was going to do, he’d stop talking and she’d become that counter-proof.

Drat.

Platinum quickly shook away the thoughts without physically shaking her head. Diamond was looking at her right now. And he wasn’t talking. He seemed to be waiting for her reaction. Maybe an answer to a question. And since the heiress hadn’t been paying _any_ attention to what he was saying, she hadn’t a clue how to respond. So she would just be honest.

“I – I am terribly sorry, Diamond, but I was lost in thought. Could you repeat what you were saying?”

Diamond smiled. “I was just asking why you looked so nervous. Relax, Lady. What were you thinking about?”

“It was something senior Blue had told me,” Platinum answered. “And… I really do not know what to make of it.”

“Oh. What did she say?”

Platinum started to blush. “Well… um… It is not easy to say…” She sheepishly looked into Diamond’s eyes. ‘ _Should I kiss him when he starts to talk?_ ’

“If you need my help in anything, you know you can rely on me, Lady,” Diamond said with a smile. “If something’s bothering you, I will always try my b-”

Platinum took a deep breath. ‘ _As senior Gold would say, the hell with it!_ ’ She was about to reach over and interrupt-kiss Diamond. But sadly, she couldn’t summon enough courage. ‘ _Ah, no! I – I cannot do it!_ ’

“-est to help you in any way,” Diamond finished.

The heiress took a nervous gulp. ‘ _I have no choice. I have to wait for Diamond to kiss me. Which means, I will continue to talk so that he may interrupt me. I wish I had enough courage, but I do not. I can only hope that Diamond has more. Until he kisses me, I shall continue talking. What did senior Sapphire call it? Random babbling? Or was it random blabbing?_ ’ “I know I can always rely on you, Diamond,” she said with a smile. “And I hope that it will never change.”

“It won’t.”

“Oh Diamond, did you hear that senior Red and senior Blue have finally gone for a dinner date?”

Platinum started by mentioning her seniors going on dates. It was a good way to prompt Diamond to focus on his relationship with her. And he probably already heard about what she was going to tell him, so he wouldn’t be overly interested. If she talked about something else, there was a risk that Diamond would be too interested in listening and completely forget about kissing her. That would be very sad.

Diamond occasionally glanced into the distance while listening to Platinum ramble. Something definitely felt a little odd. For one, the heiress seemed extremely nervous a few moments ago. And now, she was talking about her seniors going out on dates even though _every_ Dex Holder knew about them already. And she was talking nonstop. She was talking so quickly and without stopping that he found it surprising that she wasn’t experiencing lack of air.

For the first time ever, he found that listening to her talk was… boring. So he glanced into the distance to see if there was anything interesting going on. And maybe Platinum would get the hint and say something interesting. But apparently she didn’t notice, as she still rambled on about something not remotely interesting. Something about peach farming. How the topic changed from senior Dex Holders going on dates to peach farming, Diamond would never know.

As Diamond half-listened to Platinum’s gibbering, a thought suddenly occurred. The heiress wasn’t _randomly_ blabbing. She first talked about her seniors going out on dates. She then talked about peach farming and that she wanted to go alone with him. And right now, she was babbling about an incredibly fancy restaurant and that she wanted to go there with him. So she was aiming for something…

He wanted to find out what. But she was not shutting up anytime soon. So he had to interrupt her in a way that wasn’t rude.

So he did the first thing that came to mind. He reached over and kissed her soft lips, effectively shutting her up. The heiress seemed pleasantly surprised.

“Th – Thank you, Diamond,” she stammered out afterwards, her cheeks flushed red. “I – I have been… um… _waiting_ for you to do that.”

“Really?”

Platinum nodded. “I… um… I love you, Diamond. And I know that you love me too. Senior Blue told me that a first kiss always occurs in the middle of a sentence. Even though it is very easy for that statement to be mathematically false, I am glad that our case will not be a counter-proof. I was worried that you would not interrupt me, which was why I was trying to be as least interesting as I could manage.”

“Oh. Well… thanks, I guess?” Diamond said. “I really love you, Lady. I always have. I just… couldn’t express my feelings. I’m really glad that you love me too.”

Platinum gave her friend a quick embrace. “Now that our feelings are in the open… would you like to accompany me for dinner? In the lavish restaurant of Hearthome City?”

“I’d be glad to.”

…

**Gold & Crystal…**

“All right Gold, you lost again. So you know what this means.”

Gold grumbled but still knelt on the ground in front of Crystal and bowed. “Oh, please tell me your order, Miss Crystal.”

Crystal grinned as she crossed her arms. “Hmm… okay. I want you to buy and deliver a fancy lunch for the orphans in Earl’s Academy today.”

“… It will be done!”

…

A few hours later…

…

Gold slammed a game board on the table in front of Crystal. “All right Super Serious Gal, let’s go again!”

Crystal looked up from the book she was reading. “Again?”

“Yeah! I’m not going to lose this time!”

Crystal let out a short laugh and set the book down after marking her place with a bookmark. “All right, Gold. I’ll play along.”

…

“Damn it!” Gold yelled out.

“There. Completely annihilated for the 4th time in a row,” Crystal said with a smirk. “You know what this means.”

Again, Gold grumbled but bowed in front of Crystal to receive her order. This time, he had to deliver dinner to everyone working in Professor Oak’s lab.

Gold came back again, just as Crystal was about to return home for the night. With a sigh, she played the board game against him once more. And again, won. And this time, she ordered him to prepare her breakfast in the morning.

Next day, after eating the surprisingly wonderful breakfast prepared by Gold, Crystal headed towards the Pokémon Center, where she was supposed to meet Platinum. The heiress was going to volunteer at the orphanage occasionally, and Crystal was going to tell her what to do. And Gold, being incredibly stubborn, followed her.

“Hello, senior Crystal,” Platinum said with a bow the moment her senior entered the Pokémon Center.

“Hi, Platinum, nice to see you,” Crystal said with a wave.

“Senior Gold?” the heiress began upon spotting Gold enter as well. She bowed politely. “Good morning, senior.”

“Hey,” Gold said with a short wave. He them immediately focused on Crystal. “All right Super Serious Gal, let’s go at it again! I’m going to win this time!”

Crystal let out a sigh. “Gold… seriously?”

“Come on! What are you waiting for? Let’s do it!”

“You lost like… seven times in a row. What makes you think you’ll win this time?”

“It was five times, for your information! And I’m not going to give up!”

Platinum looked back and forth between her two Johto seniors. “Um… what is happening?”

Crystal shook her head and looked over at her junior. “Gold is making the same bet again and again. If he wins, I have to take him to a dinner date and kiss him at the end. If I win, he has to do whatever I tell him to. He lost five times straight, but… well, you know Gold. He never gives up.”

“So why don’t you give up?” Gold asked her. “I’ll come back no matter how many times I lose!”

“Because, Gold, I want my first kiss with someone mature and handsome. Not someone like you,” Crystal answered. “Besides, I’m too busy to go on a din-”

Gold quickly reached over and kissed Crystal on the lips. She tried to push him away, but Gold forced her hands still. Eventually she stopped struggling.

“There, now you have one less reason to go on this dinner date with me,” Gold said with a grin afterwards.

A mix of emotions appeared on Crystal’s face. She looked quite upset for having her space violated, but at the same time, she appeared happy and pleasantly surprised.

“You… you jerk!” she growled out eventually, trying to sound very angry. “You know what? Fine! I’ll take you on again. And if I win, I’m going to order you to stay away from me for a month!”

“Bring it on!”

Platinum watched nervously as her two seniors started to play the board game in front of her. She didn’t want her two seniors to fight. She really didn’t want them to separate either. So she decided to intervene. She watched the board game progress. Each time Gold was about to do something stupid and/or make a wrong move, Platinum pressed her foot onto Gold’s from underneath the table. Gold would then understand and put the game piece back down.

Crystal frowned. She found it surprising that Gold wasn’t being a reckless idiot in the game. But because she was partially distracted by that sudden first kiss, she failed to suspect Platinum of anything.

Crystal couldn’t focus on the game. That sudden kiss was… very distracting. ‘ _My first kiss… I wanted it with someone very handsome, smart, kind and… mature. Not with Gold… But it wasn’t bad. … I guess Gold is kind of good looking. And he is kind when he chooses to be. Only if he was smart and mature…_ ’ A thought occurred and she found herself feeling a little regret. ‘ _Maybe… maybe **I** can fill in the missing brains and maturity in Gold. If I can help him become smarter and more mature, he would become perfect… for me… But knowing Gold, he probably already had a few girlfriends…_ ’

Thanks to her distraction and Platinum secretly assisting, Gold managed to win the game. Crystal stared at the board in shock. But she wasn’t entirely upset. She did cast a suspicious glance at Platinum, who was busy looking innocent and avoiding eye contact.

“… All right Gold, you win,” Crystal admitted. “… I’ll go on this date with you. But _you_ better be paying.”

“What? Why?”

“Since when did the _girl_ pay for a dinner date?”

“Fine, whatever.”

…

Several hours later, Crystal found herself wearing a fancy blue dress and looking at Gold across the table in the most expensive restaurant in Violet City. While Gold was grinning like an idiot, Crystal was still experiencing bits of anger and frustration along with anxiety and anticipation. She was angry because her first kiss was ‘stolen’, frustrated because Gold really wasn’t acting like her ideal date, anxious because of her hopes of having her first date, and anticipation because she believed that Gold could make this dinner date really good.

And although Crystal initially expected Gold to embarrass her in the fancy restaurant, he actually showed quite a lot of manners and did not make an ass of himself. In fact, he was quite charming.

“Wow, Gold,” Crystal said halfway through the date. “I must say, you… really impressed me tonight.”

Gold grinned. “Well, I did want to make tonight quite special. After all, we did share the first kiss. You were the first one to be kissed by me, and I’m the first one you’ve ever kissed too. And as such, our first date needs to be special.”

“I’m your first kiss?” Crystal asked in surprise. “I thought you… um… dated a whole bunch of other girls.”

“Nah. They were all… inferior compared to you.”

Gold shuddered at his own comment while Crystal blushed. And following that comment, both Johto Dex Holders temporarily avoided eye contact.

“Um… How come you’re… good mannered today? All the other times, you…”

“Once our date was confirmed, I forced Platinum to teach me the basics,” Gold answered. “It didn’t work out too well, but I guess it was enough.”

“So you really… care about me, huh?” Crystal said with an embarrassed smile. “You took so much effort into having this date with me.”

“Of course,” Gold said. “We’re good friends, aren’t we? And you know I’m not capable of this mushy stuff, so I really hope I don’t have to say it.”

Crystal grinned. Of course she had an idea of what Gold was going to say. But she was still going to make him say it. It would… amuse her. And embarrass the crap out of her, probably.

“What do you mean?” she asked. “You don’t have to say what?”

“… Don’t make me say it, Crys,” Gold said with a slight groan. “You’ll make fun of me for years to come.”

“Oh, come on. It can’t be that bad.”

Gold grumbled a little. And Crystal smiled. “All right, let’s just say that… Ever since I first saw you,” he managed to start. “I… wanted to be _friends_. You can ‘upgrade’ that comment in your mind.”

“Not sure I follow you,” Crystal lied.

Gold groaned loudly. “… Just… promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

“I only promise to try.”

Gold let out a long sigh. He then chugged down his glass of water. “Okay. Ever since I saw you, I… … was in love with you,” he blurted out quickly and quietly. “And I’ve been trying to go out with you for years now. And I really care about you.”

Again, he shuddered at his own comment while Crystal tried her absolute best to suppress her laughter.

“Wow, thanks, Gold,” she said at last. “And… that was really… mushy. Too much, even for you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” Gold poured himself another glass of water and chugged it down. “Anyways, I’m surprised that you’re not really angry with me. You really looked like you never wanted to see me again.”

Crystal shrugged. “I admit, I was a little angry. I wanted to share my first kiss and my first date with someone handsome, smart, kindhearted, and mature. But then again, I do think that two of the categories matched you.”

“So 50% was good enough for you?”

Crystal shook her head. “No. But I thought about it. You are a good friend, so I felt you deserved a shot. And besides, you are kind of… good looking and kindhearted. The other two categories may come in time. But in the meantime, I think I’ll be happy with how you are right now. And I do appreciate your care. Thanks, Gold.”

Gold smiled. “So you don’t regret what happened today?”

“Not even a little bit.”


	17. Valentines - DPt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter marks the very first chapter of Distinct Events, and was first uploaded on February 14, 2014.
> 
> While multiple pairings are featured, the one with the most focus and effort gone into would be for Diamond & Platinum.

**Primary** **:** **Diamond & Platinum** **.**

Valentines:

**Gold & Crystal…**

Pallet Town, 1 pm…

Crystal looked back and forth between two separate computer monitors as she typed on two separate keyboards. With Green forcefully dragged out of the research lab by Blue, all of his research work had to be done by Crystal. She didn’t mind. If anything, she was a bit happy that Green trusted her so much.

“… Crystal, shouldn’t you take a break?” Prof. Oak asked.

“I’m fine, professor,” Crystal said in a distracted yet bright tone.

“I mean, it’s Valentine’s Day. Shouldn’t a young girl like you do something fun and not be dragged into research?”

“This is fun for me, professor,” Crystal said again. “Besides, I did the exact same thing last year.”

Professor Oak tilted his head. “And I’m sure you were crying at the end of the day.”

“No I didn’t. Something got in my eyes,” Crystal said, her tone no longer bright. If anything, it was… scary.

“And something will get in your eyes today too,” Prof. Oak said.

Crystal’s typing speed drastically increased by the sound of it. Either that, or she was putting way too much force into her hands.

“Nothing will get in my eyes if GOLD KNOWS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MY BIRTHDAY AND VALENTINE’S DAY!”

Professor Oak quickly scurried away from Crystal’s furious roar. The Johto Dex Holder glared at the two monitors as she continued to type away, with her teeth clenched. She tried to calm herself down eventually, but failed. Her mind continuously drifted towards the bad memories of last year’s Valentine’s Day, and the argument with Gold that followed. And she had no reason to believe that Gold would suddenly act differently this year.

Crystal took a glance behind her and noticed that Prof. Oak had left his coffee cup in the room. She kindly let him know.

“Professor!” she yelled, her boiling rage still imbedded in her voice. “You left behind your coffee!”

The professor silently appeared in the doorway and peeked inside to see if it was safe to enter. Seeing Crystal’s back turned to him, he quietly but quickly crept towards his coffee cup and silently crept back out, making sure not to attract any attention to himself. He had witnessed Red’s fury. He also witnessed Green’s fury. And Blue’s. And even Yellow’s. But for some reason, Crystal’s fury seemed more terrifying than all four Kanto Dex Holders’ put together.

The moment he was safe, the professor made a mad dash for his research room, sincerely glad that he survived.

Crystal finished typing up the two research reports. She checked them over at light speed and opened up new documents for more reports. She stretched her fingers and was about to begin typing again when her Pokégear began to vibrate. It was a message from Emerald, it seemed, asking for her to meet him outside the lab in a few minutes.

Crystal put the two computers in sleep mode to save power and headed outside. She needed to calm down anyways. On her way out, she could almost _hear_ Prof. Oak trembling in terror, trying to remain safe from her rage. Crystal took a deep breath. Her anger steadily calmed and once she felt that she was calm enough, she headed outside the lab.

The moment she opened the door, a box dropped from above and stopped right in front of her face. Crystal jumped in surprise but quickly regained her composure. She then realized that the box was hanging from something above by a ribbon. _Then_ she realized that the box was in the shape of a pink heart.

Crystal took the box off the ribbon. There was a card taped to the box. A Valentine’s Day card.

“Surprise!” came a voice from behind.

Crystal jumped in surprise again and quickly swiveled around. She saw Gold standing in the lab’s doorway with a grin.

“Gold? What are you…” Crystal muttered, completely caught off guard. “… Where’s Emerald?”

Gold shrugged. “Hell if I know. I just took his Pokégear so I could get you out here without suspecting me.”

“You took his Pokégear? But I sent him on a mission! He’s going to have to call me soon!”

Gold waved her off. “Nah. He’ll be fine. Besides, he’s not important today. You are.”

Crystal blushed as Gold shuddered at his comment. “… Thanks… I thought you’d forget about this day…”

“After last year, no way.” Gold pointed at the box. “You going to open that now?”

Crystal did as suggested and opened the pink heart shaped box. It appeared to be a box of chocolates… or was, anyways. The box was empty. Just empty slots of various shapes of chocolate.

“Now open the card,” Gold said.

Crystal did as suggested once more. She read out the messy handwriting. “ _Super Serious Gal, since I don’t want you to eat all the chocolate and get fat,_ _I’ve taken the liberty of eating the chocolate for you._ ” She sighed. “Gee… thanks, Gold…”

Gold grinned. “Ah, don’t you worry. That box of chocolate cost 6000 PKD. So now, I’ll just take you to a restaurant and buy you a course that costs the same amount!”

“A lunch date?”

“You got it.”

Gold grabbed Crystal by her hand and proceeded to drag her out of the lab. Crystal hesitated.

“But… I have lots of stuff to do today,” she said. “Green got dragged out so I have to take over his work.”

“Come on, you need a break! Besides, if senior Green is going to kill anyone for all his stuff incomplete, it’ll probably be me and not you.”

Crystal smiled and stopped resisting. “Thanks Gold.”

“Now you can’t go around complaining about me being insensitive.”

“I know. I won’t.”

…

**X & Y…**

Vaniville Town, 12 pm…

Y stared at X’s house. It was Valentine’s Day and yet her _very_ close friend was giving her nothing? How rude. Even right now, her bag was filled to the brim with delicious and expensive chocolates she was going to give him. And most likely, eat with him. She crossed her arms and stared at her Holo Caster, waiting for him to give her a call at least. No? No calls at all?

Y let out a “hmph” and walked around the house until she spotted X’s bedroom window. She wasn’t in her flight suit this time, so getting up there might be a tad bit problematic. Then again…

The girl took several steps backwards. Once she was satisfied with the distance between herself and the house, she dashed forward as fast as she could manage. She jumped at the opportune moment and kicked up on the wall for additional height boost. She successfully grabbed the slanted roof of the 1st floor and pulled herself up. Skirt or no skirt, this jump was easy.

Y took a few seconds to straighten out her clothes and her hair. Once she felt ready, she kicked the window.

“Hey, X!” she yelled.

“Not now, Y!” came X’s reply. “I’m kind of busy right now!”

‘ _That’s a new one…_ ’ “Get out of there! I want to talk to you!”

“I said not now! I’m busy! I need to concentrate! Just wait a few minutes!”

Y crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. What exactly was X doing? Was someone else in there?

“… Don’t focus on her. Let’s keep going,” came X’s voice from the inside.

‘ _That’s it…_ ’ Y clenched her hands into fists. Someone else was in there with X. And because of that, he was ignoring her. On Valentine’s Day, of all days. Not if she had anything to say about it!

Y grabbed the window frame and pulled. Normally, she’d respect X’s privacy just enough to not forcefully drag him outside or barge in. But this wasn’t a normal situation.

The window’s lock gave way and Y opened the windows wide. Immediately, she spotted X sitting cross-legged on his bed, with a hand on his chin, appearing to be lost in thought. Y then noticed that there was a chessboard in front of X and his baby Kangaskhan was sitting across the chessboard from him. And by the looks of it, X was getting curb-stomped. Somehow.

X hesitantly grabbed a chess piece. A pawn. He slowly moved the piece by one square and observed the baby Kangaskhan’s expression. The Pokémon picked up a rook and smashed into the undefended part of X’s side of the board.

Y simply blinked. “… Huh?”

X sighed and looked up at her. “I said I was busy.”

The baby Kangaskhan looked at her as well and waved. X took the brief distraction to rearrange a few pieces on the board. The baby Kangaskhan quickly noticed and threw a “dead” piece at its trainer for the deception.

Y entered the room and shut the windows behind her. She carefully sat beside X on the bed and watched the game. X didn’t pay attention to her. Y remained quiet and simply watched the game for a few minutes until X flipped the chessboard. The baby Kangaskhan hopped off the bed and walked away in triumph.

“… That was hardly a fair game,” X grumbled. “It was corrupted. Something was wrong with it!”

“It’s hard to corrupt a board game, don’t you think?” Y asked.

“Whatever.” X sighed and faced Y. “So… why are you here?”

Y crossed her arms and frowned. “It’s Valentine’s Day, dummy! I _have_ to be here!” She lightened her expression and looked at him eagerly. “So. Where’s my card?”

“What card?”

“ _Valentine’s Day_ card! You know! You write stuff on it? Usually about how you… care for the recipient?”

“… Right…”

Y sighed and shook her head. “You _really_ need to get out more. Really.” She took off her bag and opened it. “But at least I have stuff for you!” She flipped the bag upside down and waited until all the small chocolate packs poured out, making a big tooth-rotting mountain on the middle of the bed.

“… Whoa,” X muttered. “That’s a _lot_ …”

“Yep! You’re looking at 129 of the super popular chocolate snack of Lumiose!”

“Are you sure you can eat all this and still be able to fly?” X asked, almost taunting. “That’s already a concern, isn’t it?”

Y threw a chocolate pack at his face. “Hmph. Jerk.”

“I’m just kidding,” X said in defense.

The two sat in silence for a bit before Y spoke. “So… got any plans for today?”

“No.”

“… Mind if I stay with you then?”

“… Why?” X asked. “Don’t you have better things to do than be holed up in here?”

Y suddenly looked a tad bit nervous. “Well… you know, we’ve been friends since… as long as I can remember. We used to hang out, you know? But for a few years now, you haven’t left your room at all. … Or that _tent_ we had to carry around. I just… miss those days we used to just play outside, you know? And since you won’t get outside, I’ll just have to stay indoors with you.”

X smiled. “Thanks. I miss those days too. Well, you can stay as long as you want. Let’s see if we can relive those days.” He reset the chessboard after moving the stash of chocolate aside. “All right. Let’s play.”

Y popped a small piece of chocolate in her mouth and focused on the chessboard. This wasn’t exactly how she wanted to spend Valentine’s Day, but… well… eventually, she’d get her wish. Maybe soon…

…

**Ruby & Sapphire…**

Littleroot Town, 10 am…

Sapphire stared at the calendar on the wall. February 14… there was some small text written below that date.

“… Valentine’s Day? What the hell is that?” she asked.

“It’s a day where you show your appreciation for those you love,” Prof. Birch said from behind. “Usually in the form of a box full of chocolate.”

Sapphire grinned. “Interesting…” She quickly formulated a plan. “Well, I got to go!”

Sapphire ran out of her house and charged straight towards Ruby’s. In a blink of an eye, she climbed up the wall and reached Ruby’s window. Ruby wasn’t inside. But his Kirlia was, waving at her with a piece of paper in hand. Sapphire opened the window and climbed over. The Kirlia walked over towards her and gave her piece of paper. It was a letter from Ruby.

_“You have come as it was foretold… by Ruru. And it was pretty obvious. And I have left to avoid this. If you want to find me, come to the biggest watchtower of Hoenn.”_

Sapphire raised an eyebrow. What was this, a treasure hunt? She sent out her Aggron and grabbed Ruby’s Kirlia for a bit of… interrogation.

“Where did that sissy go?!” she demanded.

The Kirlia seemed to have realized its predicament. Perhaps it shouldn’t have stayed behind… Did Ruby give any orders about this possibility? … Not really…

“Spill your guts before I spill them for you!” Sapphire yelled. Her Aggron let out a low growl and moved its claw across its throat as a warning.

The Kirlia made up its mind. It used Psychic to bring forth a large map of Hoenn and opened it on the desk. Sapphire let it go and it quickly hobbled towards the map to point at a location. The Hoenn Dex Holder saw where the Kirlia pointed and nodded.

“Thanks!” she said with a bright smile. She returned her Aggron and gave the Kirlia a pat on the head. She jumped out through the open window afterwards, leaving the Kirlia alone to think about the doom that it just managed to avoid.

Outside, Sapphire sent out her Tropius and hopped on. Ruby’s letter wanted her to go to Lilycove City. That new watchtower/lighthouse was the biggest one of Hoenn, so there would probably be another clue for her to follow. But Ruby’s Kirlia has pointed out Fallarbor Town instead.

A couple of hours later, Sapphire arrived at Fallarbor Town and returned her Tropius. Now… where would Ruby be in this boring old volcanic-ash littered town? Probably that Contest Hall. Sapphire quickly made her way over. The Contest Hall was relatively small, so if Ruby was inside, it wouldn’t take long to find him.

She opened the door and charged inside. She sniffed at the air, but didn’t detect Ruby. A quick glance around didn’t provide any new clues. Instead, she just approached the Contest clerk.

“Hello, miss. Would you like to participate in the Super Contest today?” the clerk asked.

“No thanks. Tell me, did a guy named Ruby come here today?” Sapphire asked back.

“Ah yes. He did. I believe he went to the Pokémon Mart on the opposite side of town.”

“Huh. Thanks.”

Sapphire soon left the Contest Hall and ran towards the Pokémon Mart. It wasn’t a long run, as she arrived within a few minutes. The moment she arrived, she spotted Ruby leaving the Mart.

“RUBY!” Sapphire yelled.

Ruby jumped in surprise and stared at her in shock. “What the… What are you doing here already?”

“Why you!” Sapphire roared. “Sending me on a damn wild goose chase! On Valet’s Day!”

Ruby tilted his head. “… You mean Valentine’s Day?”

“… Yeah! Exactly!” Sapphire clenched her hands into fists and prepared to charge.

Ruby put up his hands. “Whoa! Calm down! I can explain!”

Sapphire kept her glare. “Explain, then.”

Ruby let out a sigh of relief and prepared to explain. … He blinked. There were no explanations. “… I can’t explain, actually. Uh… Look, how about I buy you a box of chocolates and take you out for dinner?”

“Bribing me with chocolate and food won’t work, you know.”

“It’s not a bribe. You’re supposed to give a box of chocolate to those you care about. I’m just adding the dinner part.”

Sapphire crossed her arms and thought for a while. Though there wasn’t anything to think about. She was just stalling to bother Ruby a bit. “Hmm… fine. But I’m picking the restaurant!”

“All right.”

The two Hoenn Dex Holders proceeded to head towards the nearest grocery store so they could buy the box of chocolate.

“So, did you even go to Lilycove City?” Ruby asked. “If you have, there’s no way you could’ve found me already.”

“No. I’m not going to fall for your wild goose chase. I just interrogated Ruru to find you quickly.”

“So you never went to Lilycove? Aww… I left an amazing gift for you at the very end of the chain of hints.”

Sapphire smirked. “Pff. Come now, you think I’ll fall for that? That’s obviously crap. You’re just lying.”

“No I’m not. How can you even say that when you haven’t even been there?”

“I don’t have to go there! I know you better than that! You’re just saying stuff so I won’t kill you!”

“Why, you don’t know me at all!”

“Yes I do!”

“No you don’t! And besides, I put a lot of effort into making those clever clues and traveling all over the region! The least you could’ve done was go and try it out!”

“Yeah, yeah. Well, we can do it after the dinner. You’re coming with me so I know I’m not being tricked.”

…

**Diamond & Platinum…**

Twinleaf Town, 12 pm…

Diamond paced around behind the front door of his house, just waiting for a certain someone to knock on the door. Was he nervous? Oh yes. This was the very first time he invited her into his house. And he had no idea if she would like it. If anything, he was worried that she would be vastly disappointed.

It was a special day. Valentine’s Day. And as such, he invited Platinum Berlitz over to his house. Of course, the heiress didn’t know what exactly Valentine’s Day was about. So the day’s schedule might surprise her a bit.

Diamond looked through the windows. It was still snowing quite a lot. Perhaps he should’ve gone to her and then come home with her instead of just calling her over. That felt… rude. Technically, this wasn’t his suggestion. He just asked Platinum if she wanted to spend time with him. And she was the one who said that she would come to meet him at his house. She said she wanted to see his house and experience the difference between her mansion and his simple home.

There was a gentle knock on the door. Diamond almost jumped but quickly opened the door. The doorway seemed to light up as Platinum appeared in his sight. The girl had her coat on and a bit of snow on her.

“Hello, Diamond,” she said with a bright smile.

“H – Hi, Lady,” Diamond stammered out. He blinked a few times as the heiress simply brushed the piling snow off of her. “Oh. Please come in.”

Diamond stepped away from the doorway and the heiress entered. Immediately, she began to look around the horribly simple home, taking note of all the differences when compared to her mansion.

“You have a lovely home,” she said eventually. “It appears to be very cozy here.”

“Thank you,” Diamond said. “But I’m sure my home appears terrible when compared to yours.”

“No, no. I do not appreciate a home so large that it takes fifty people all day just to clean it.”

Platinum smiled and proceeded to take off her coat. Diamond snapped out of his thoughts and rushed to help. He figured that’s what he was supposed to do.

“Allow me.”

“Diamond, that is not necessary,” the heiress said with a smile. “But I appreciate the thought.”

Diamond took the girl’s coat and hung it on the hook next to the door. Platinum looked at the hook and appeared to be fascinated. Somehow. Then again, she was probably used to having a maid carry the coat away somewhere.

Platinum took off her hat and Diamond placed it on a little drawer below the hook. She then took off her boots, which she placed next to the other shoes in front of the doorway.

“So, Diamond,” she started as she walked deeper into the house. “What do you intend on doing?”

Diamond took a nervous gulp and followed her. “Uh… well, Lady… it’s Valentine’s Day.”

“Oh? What is that?”

“It’s a special day when you… give gifts to those you really care about,” Diamond answered, almost afraid of Platinum’s possible reactions. “Usually in the form of chocolates. Or roses.”

“Interesting,” the heiress said. “So I should get my mother such a gift?”

“Well… it’s usually to the opposite gender,” Diamond answered.

“To my father, then?”

“Usually to those of similar ages. And not in the same family. You know, _very_ close friends…”

Platinum nodded. “Oh, I understand. I should purchase such gifts for you and Pearl.”

Diamond gulped. “It… It’s for someone you _really_ care about.”

“Yes. So you and Pearl,” Platinum said, not fully understanding his words.

Diamond decided to let it slide. “Lady, I… want to give you a gift.”

Platinum beamed in joy. “Oh? Thank you so much!”

“B – But I think it’ll be more meaningful if we… made it together,” Diamond blurted out eventually.

The heiress nodded. “Yes. I do suppose so.”

“S – So… if you’d follow me, I think we should start making a nice chocolate cake.”

“It sounds delicious.”

Diamond soon led Platinum towards the kitchen, where all the ingredients were all waiting. While Diamond prepared all the tools, Platinum tied her hair back into a ponytail and washed her hands in the sink.

“Oh, Diamond,” she called as she remembered something.

“Yes?”

“Will you be calling Pearl over as well?” the heiress asked. “I believe it would be more meaningful if we all make the cake together.”

‘ _No it wouldn’t._ ’ “Uh… sorry, Lady. Pearl said that he would be very busy today,” Diamond lied. “So it’ll just be you and me today.”

“Oh. Okay.”

The heiress didn’t sound disappointed, but she didn’t sound particularly happy either. What did that mean?

Diamond soon helped Platinum put on a cooking apron and showed her the basic steps of making a cake. The heiress paid deep attention, so much that she failed to notice that he occasionally turned to stare at her eyes.

He guided her through the steps carefully, pointing out common mistakes and even possible dangers. He basically held her hands when helping her cut the chocolate pieces with a knife. The excuse being that he didn’t want her to hurt herself.

Diamond picked up a cut piece of chocolate and moved it close to Platinum. The heiress smiled and lightly opened her mouth. Diamond took a nervous gulp and put the piece of chocolate into her mouth. His fingers brushed her soft lips in the process and he took another nervous gulp. Someday, he would summon the courage to kiss her… someday…

Eventually, Diamond showed her how to mix the batter with the automatic mixer. Since it was Platinum’s very first time, she accidentally made a small bit of a mess, with the chocolate batter splattering here and there. She looked very apologetic, but he comforted her. After all, these types of accidents happened all the time.

Again, Platinum appeared to be focusing very deeply into the cake-in-progress. She failed to notice that there was some chocolate batter on her cheek. Diamond reached over and lightly smudged the batter across her soft cheek with his finger.

Platinum then realized what he did and put her finger on her cheek. With the smudged batter on her finger, she playfully reached over and smudged it onto Diamond’s nose. She then started to giggle, and Diamond laughed as well. Once again, the heiress failed to notice the intimacy of her actions. But Diamond was still very happy.

Through the baking phase, the two Sinnoh Dex Holders had a nice friendly chat. Platinum mostly asked questions and Diamond mostly answered. The girl had a lot of questions for him, thanks to her seemingly endless curiosity.

“So Lady, how are you doing recently?” Diamond finally asked.

“I mostly spend my time reading from our library and working for Professor Rowan,” the heiress answered. She suddenly appeared a bit nervous. “But I do feel lonely at times. I wish I could see my friends more often. Like you.”

Diamond almost cried out in joy. He suppressed those urges and just smiled. “I – I’m sure you can find some way to keep your friends close to you.”

Platinum nodded but didn’t say anything. Perhaps she was thinking of a solution for her loneliness problem. Diamond couldn’t help but feel a bit of sympathy. It just saddened him to hear that the heiress was quite lonely at times. All alone and no one to be friends with her in that humongous mansion of hers. Only if he could stay with her…

Soon, the cake finished baking and Diamond showed Platinum how to decorate it with tasty icing. Again, to better regulate the icing flow, Diamond held her hands and slowly guided her. He wished that this would last forever, but sadly, the cake was finished.

“Diamond, the cake looks beautiful,” Platinum said with a happy smile.

‘ _Not as much as you, Lady… Damn it, only if I had the courage to say that…_ ’ “I think it looks this great because you made it.”

Platinum slightly blushed. “No, Diamond. You were the one who made it.”

Diamond smiled. “Actually, we both made it. Together. And we’ll eat it together too.”

“It is too beautiful to eat, but I am curious of its taste,” Platinum said. “Though I have no doubts that it will be delicious.”

Diamond took out two plates and again, guided Platinum as she cut the cake. Though she didn’t need guidance on this one, he just wanted to hold her hands. She didn’t notice. Diamond took the plates and the forks and headed towards the living room. Platinum looked a bit confused for a second, but she soon followed after taking off the cooking apron. She didn’t seem to understand why he was taking the cake slices to the living room and not the dining table.

Diamond set the plates and forks down on the small table in front of the couch and turned on the television. He sat on the couch and pointed at the TV. Platinum understood and sat beside him. Together, they watched a movie while eating the chocolate cake. Diamond was very happy, but Platinum appeared even happier. This was the first time she ever did something like this, and she was having a lot of fun.

Even after eating the entire cake together, Platinum remained smiling in joy as Diamond played games with her. Board games, word games, games that require physical action… she was having way too much fun. She didn’t mind repeating certain games or events as well. Making dinner with Diamond was just as entertaining to her as was baking the cake earlier. Eating the dinner while watching another movie several hours later was just as entertaining as well.

“Diamond,” Platinum said as Diamond moved the empty plates back towards the kitchen sink.

“Yeah?”

“I have had so much fun today. I wish to do this more frequently. Would you mind inviting me over more often?”

Diamond almost dropped the plates. “O – Of course not! Whenever you feel lonely, just give me a call! I’ll gladly invite you over or just spend time with you.”

“Thank you so much, Diamond,” she said happily. “Oh! Diamond, the movie is starting!”

Diamond returned to his seat on the couch and much to his surprise and joy, Platinum leaned towards him while sitting next to him. Diamond pinched his own leg where the heiress couldn’t see.

‘ _If this is a dream, I’m going to be **so** angry…_ ’

But the _real_ dreamy moment started not too long from then. While Diamond focused on the movie and the fact that Platinum was still sitting very close to him while leaning over slightly, the heiress began to doze off as the fatigue built up from the eventful day started to become overwhelming. And before she knew it, she drifted off into deep sleep, and her head leaned over onto Diamond’s shoulder.

Diamond too, was feeling a bit sleepy but this feeling immediately vanished when he felt Platinum’s head leaning on his shoulder. He checked her and noticed that she was in deep sleep with an extremely happy and satisfied look on her face. With a nervous gulp, he put his hand on her hands, which were resting on her lap. Platinum unconsciously held his hand and smiled.

Diamond remained frozen for several minutes, afraid to even move in case Platinum woke up. But eventually, he turned his head to face her completely.

“… Lady?” he called out quietly. Platinum didn’t respond. She was making the faintest sound as she regularly breathed in and out while asleep. “Lady?” he called a bit louder. Still, Platinum remained asleep. Diamond took the risk. He leaned over and kissed her on her soft cheek. Her lips were currently out of reach, unfortunately. But soon… “Lady… I love you,” he whispered afterwards. With a happy sigh, Diamond turned off the television and slowly rested his head on hers. The scent of her shampoo and perfume were ever so pleasant… He slowly closed his eyes as well. “I really do love you…” he whispered as he slowly fell asleep.

But because he had his eyes closed, he failed to see Platinum’s lips forming a faint yet happy smile…

…

**Black & White…**

Nimbasa City, 9 pm…

Black took the elevator up to the hotel room that White had checked in for the day. He found it quite odd that White didn’t even call him at all today. Of all days. She was talking about Valentine’s Day for quite some time, actually. She was clearly anticipating him to do something special for her. If not anticipating, she was hinting him an order to do such.

And now, when he _did_ plan something special, White didn’t call him or come to him at all. What the hell. Did something happen to her or something?

Black soon approached the hotel room where White was staying. The girl had given him a spare room key so he could enter without her having to be next to him. So Black unlocked the door and quietly pushed it open.

He didn’t hear anything from the inside. So he slowly crept inside after quietly closing the door behind him. Around the corner, he spotted White, sitting by the desk while leaning into it. When Black approached her, he noticed that she was fast sleep in front of her laptop.

Black stared at the laptop screen. It appeared that White was actually working, as several BW Agency and Pokéstar Studios documents were open. And by the looks of it, the girl had been working all day long. It must’ve been some sort of an emergency. On Valentine’s Day.

Black slowly shook his head. Poor White. Working all day long and skipping out on just having fun like a normal girl.

He briefly contemplated in waking her up, but decided against it. If she woke up, she’d just work again. She had to get some rest. And she looked so peaceful right now, he didn’t want to wake her up. So instead, he took out the box of chocolate he purchased and placed it next to her head on the table. He then wrote her a brief letter and placed it below the box. After all that, he gave her a gentle pat on the back and silently exited the hotel room.

When White woke up, it was almost midnight. She sat up straight and shook her head to shake away the sleepiness. She still had to complete her work before the next day, sadly. She sighed and was about to resume working when she noticed something on the desk next to her. A box, it seemed.

She frowned, wondering who came into her room to put the box there. In her tired mind, she forgot that she gave Black the extra keys for the hotel room.

White opened the box and gasped in surprise when she saw a neat arrangement of delicious looking chocolates. So it was a Valentine’s Day gift! But from who?

White lifted the box and spotted a handwritten letter. She quickly took it and read it. She recognized the writing to be Black’s.

_“Miss President, I’m sorry you had to work so hard on Valentine’s Day. I know you’ve been looking forward to this day for a while now. I had all sorts of things planned for you today, but it looks like I have to postpone them. Let me know when you finish working, and I’ll go through all those planned things with you. We’ll pretend it’s still Valentine’s Day. So hurry up and finish your work. I’ll be waiting for your call. Take care.”_

White smiled as she reread the letter over and over. This was the most thoughtful gift she had ever received. And it was also the most thoughtful thing Black ever did. She took a piece of chocolate and popped it in her mouth. She took a few seconds to enjoy the rich flavor.

“Mmm… Thanks, Black,” she muttered happily. “This was still the best Valentine’s Day I ever had… all thanks to you…”

…

**Rakutsu & Faitsu…**

Aspertia City, 1 pm…

Valentine’s Day. A day in which all the girls of the Aspertia Trainer’s School wage war on each other to deliver their love notes to a particular boy. Well, all the girls except for one.

Faitsu glanced through the Valentine’s Day cards a handful of boys sent her. Perhaps “handful” was the wrong term when over half the boys of the class gave her their card. She liked to think that this was because all the other girls were busy forming an impenetrable human barricade around Rakutsu and therefore inaccessible.

Faitsu looked over at the human barricade. She couldn’t even _see_ Rakutsu in that mess. She was actually glad to _not_ be a part of that barricade. All the attention would be horrible. Though she was getting a lot of attention right now as well.

The human barricade steadily started to dissipate. Rakutsu must’ve told them to stay calm and return to their seats so he could deliver _his_ Valentine’s Day card.

‘ _Not me, not me, not me, not me…_ ’ Faitsu muttered to herself as Rakutsu slowly walked away from his desk. ‘ _Not me, not me, not me! Please not me!_ ’

“Faitsu!” came Rakutsu’s voice from behind.

‘ _No, no, no, no, no…_ ’ Faitsu groaned and pretended to have not heard.

“Faitsu, I want _you_ to be my valentine!” Rakutsu said as he gave her his Valentine’s Day card.

And again, as feared, all the attention in the classroom focused on Faitsu. Much to her dismay. The girl simply sighed and glared at the card.

“Oh, come now. Are you going to refuse the card of the birthday boy?” Rakutsu asked with his damned charming voice.

Faitsu quickly turned to face him. “… Birthday?”

“Yeah. I’m born in February, remember?” Rakutsu asked.

“But… that doesn’t mean your birthday is on the 14th!” Faitsu argued, trying to find some excuse to refuse the card.

“Are you going to take that chance? What if it _is_ on the 14 th?” Rakutsu asked with a smile.

“Ugh… I guess I…” Faitsu trailed off as she remembered something. “Wait… your birthday’s on May! Not February!”

Rakutsu grinned. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure! You told me, remember?”

Rakutsu let out a laugh. “You sure do know a lot about me! I guess you must really like me for you to remember my birth month when I only told you once!”

Faitsu’s mouth opened in shock. She tried to say something but her tongue got tied. Rakutsu moved to sit beside her and gave her his trademark charming smile. She slowly tried to inch away from him, but her body wouldn’t move. It was as if she some Steel type Pokémon affected by Magnet Pull. Her cheeks were starting to get warmer as the distance between her and Rakutsu decreased. She tried to look away but then Rakutsu put his hand on top of hers. She stared at him in shock, and he winked back.

Faitsu’s cheeks flushed. All her thoughts ran away as her mind experienced a system shutdown. She was simply lost in his warm eyes with her mouth slightly open. Rakutsu slowly leaned closer and closer. Faitsu’s entire face turned red as her rebooting mind crashed once more.

Rakutsu simply grinned and gave her a quick _embrace_. He winked at her once more and rose to his feet. “I’m glad you feel that way.” He put his hand on her shoulder for a few seconds. “I’ll see you later, Faitsu.”

The girl steadily calmed down once he left her alone. She put her hands on her cheeks to hide the blush and looked down at the Valentine’s Day card. The card’s picture depicted a boy reaching towards a girl who was walking past him without even a glance. Rakutsu’s message was neatly handwritten on the back.

 _“All my fame, all my popularity, I’ll trade them all, just for you. Today, tomorrow, everyday, I’ll fight and fight, for you Faitsu._ ”

The girl couldn’t help but smile. Even though Rakutsu basically “stole” her own catchphrase and used it against her, his message was very nice. And touching. She slowly took the card and put it inside her bag. She was going to keep this one.

‘ _I guess today wasn’t such a bad day after all. Maybe being the center of his attention isn’t so bad…_ ’


End file.
